Tamil Nadu - Chennai

How they take pains to win a game

CHENNAI: A gentle chill and tennis are in the Chennai air now. What with the Chennai Open, its games and stars keeping the city entertained, the pains are sometimes forgotten. The aches and pains involved in playing a game competitively — the back aches, neck aches, shoulder pain, tennis elbows, weak knees — are real, however, for the contestants.

Of course, you can have back pain or the rest even without playing tennis, thanks to our complete disregard for postural adjustments. But players competing with one another at an intense game of tennis are naturally at higher risk of activity-related injuries.

If you don’t believe this, there are statistics to convince you. During the last Chennai Open (January 2007) a study conducted among 13 international and 37 national players to understand the context of fitness, showed that the game itself remained the largest cause for back ache (46 per cent). The study conducted by Iodex further identified the winning overhead smash and service ace and hitting the ball incorrectly as the major factors causing stress to the shoulder and back muscles. Among those who participated include Rafael Nadal, Carlos Moya, Rainer Schuettler, Bjorn Phau, Karan Rastogi, Prakash Amritraj and Ivo Karlovic.

But apparently it is not just the top players who face these problems. If you are learning to play or enjoy a game during weekends, there is an even chance that you fall prey to the aches and pains. “The question as to whether a tennis player can injure himself or herself is like asking if the axle of a car can break,” says Kannan Pugazhendi, sports medicine doctor. “The answer is, of course, it is possible — it depends on who is driving the car, how he/she is driving the car, what make of car it is, at what speed it is being driven and the terrain. Similarly for tennis players, an injury depends on the level of experience, preparation before competition, biomechanics and the speed of progression from one level to the other.”

Dr.Pugazhendi believes that if these factors are taken care of, then it is a trouble-free volley for you. However, in his practice he sees tennis players of all age groups regularly, even if not everyday. More patients these days, as more players have started playing competitive tennis. The age group of his patients ranges between the middle age and pre-teens entering the competitive stage. There are 17-year olds who are trying to break through to the international level who come in for consultations. The problems arise from trying to progress to the next stages too fast or pushing the body before it can recover from the stress. At C.Lenin’s sports medicine clinic at the MIOT Hospital, again, there are quite a few cases of tennis players coming in for treatment. The entire range of aches and pains are present as symptoms — shoulder injuries, ligament tears, back aches, knee aches and neck aches. While players use sprays and ointments during a match, as reflected in the Iodex study, they tend to ignore treatment for the pain unless it gets worse.

“People come in only with pain. No one comes to a sports medicine practitioner to learn the right, safe ways of playing the game,” Dr.Lenin says. Patients come in usually when the pain has begun to affect their game. However that pain is routed in an earlier incident where a serve or back hand caused the first injury.

Players tend to neglect small injuries, sometimes they are not even aware they have an injury because they are able to go about their normal lives.

However, if neglected at this stage, in the long run, these players can become arthritic at an earlier age.

The good news is that all these aches and pains are eminently avoidable, and even if they have already started, corrected with some training. “Training is different from coaching. Coaching is about strategy and technique, but training is all about how to prepare, what exercises to do,” Dr. Pugazhendi explains.

If players look at the training aspect as seriously as they do coaching, then the injury rate will drop drastically. He employs biomechanics after studying a video of the player’s game to suggest changes in the player’s game that will not compromise on the chances of victory, but at the same time ensure fitness.

© Copyright 2000 - 2009 The Hindu