Gina Pongetti Angeletti, MPT, MA, CSCS, ART-Cert
Co-Owner-Achieve Orthopedic Rehab Institute Sports Medicine
Most Common Injuries and Challenges!
- Foot: Calf Strains and plantar fasciitis
- Elbow and wrist pain
- Shoulder stiffness
- Low back irritation and stiffness
- Ankle sprains
More traumatic:
- Groin tears
- ACL tears/meniscus
- Low back disc issues/radiating pain
Stretching
- Various types of flexibility to focus on. The two specifically important to paddle are Static and Dynamic
- Static Flexibility:
- Best done after a game to help while being warm and for recovery
- Increases overall length of the muscles
- Specifically for paddle, calves, inner thigh (Adductor), and hamstrings are important to statically stretch
- Dynamic Flexibility
- Done with motion in the plane that the muscle stretches
- Not performed forcefully or to end range
- Best done on muscles that have to be quickly taken through their range in order to perform. With paddle- hip flexors, hamstrings, calves, triceps, spine, obliques, gluteals
Recovery
- Because of the nature of the sport, recovery has traditionally not been a focus due to the environment
- Paddle is played, by the numbers, as an ancillary activity as opposed to a “sport,” where the person focuses 5-6 days on play, agility, strength, mechanics, and play
- Because of this, recovery is not deemed as important due to the low rate of people playing back to back days, and therefore the need to avoid soreness
- If one focuses on recovery, their game will eventually improve and they will maintain the strength, flexibility, and agility gains more so when playing
- It reduces injury percentages, especially for muscle sprains and ligament strains as well
- Water
- One should consume ½ body weight in ounces in a day even without athletic activity
- For every hour of activity, add 8 oz
- Alcohol does not count as water, and demands that you add an additional 4 oz for each beverage to counter dehydration
- Sleep
- Sleep is important for not only recovery after you play, but also preparedness to play. It increases reaction time, proprioception, and muscle activation.
- It is important, especially on multiple day tournament days, for muscle damage recovery
- Rolling
- One of the best things you can do for your body is roll. Options are tennis ball, lacrosse ball, Trigger Point Quad Roller, Trigger Point Grid
- Less aggressive, and less effective options: Foam roller
- Pre-play heat and blood flow: The Stick
Flexibility Examples:
Hamstrings (Back of Thigh):
Static: Stand, place foot on chair, square hips, hinge forward
Dynamic: Inchworms or starter stretch
Rolling: Wheel of the TP roller in the hamstring, vertical and horizontal
Strength: Dead lifts or RDL’s
Quads (Front of Thigh):
Static: Grab foot, bring to thigh, roll hips under
Dynamic: jogging (or jogging in place) with heel to butt kicks
Rolling: TP roller to thigh, stick to thigh before
Strength: Properly positioned squats
Adductor (Inner Thigh):
Static: seated straddle stretch, reach to one foot at a time and then to the middle
Dynamic: Stand, hold onto side of court (cage), swing leg in and out
Rolling: hard to do, but using ball on meat of inner thigh
Strength: Sumo Squats
Calves:
Static: Standing calf stretch with straight and bent knee
Dynamic: Push up position heel bounces or stair drops, alternating
Rolling: calf roller and ball
Strength: Heel raises in BOTH knee straight and knee bent position
Gluteals:
Static: Figure 4 stretch
Dynamic: Dynamic standing, figure 4 stretch
Rolling: Sitting position, ball in gluteals
Strength: Single leg lunge repeats
Wrists:
Static: Hold wrist out in front of body, pull fingers back. Switch, pull hand down
Dynamic: palm up position, use opposite hand to pull hand back. Bend and straighten elbow
Rolling: Use the ball or roller for the forearm- or the finger flexors that “grip” all game
Strength: Hammer twist or band work
Spine:
Static: Round forward, prone press-up, side bend in doorway
Dynamic: Lower trunk rotations: lay on ground, one leg up in air, drop leg to side
Rolling: Foam roll horizontal, try to roll the back from tailbone to neck to open up spine
Strength: 4 way planks- yay!
Neck:
Static: Tip neck Left, right, and chin to chest, use hands on head to apply some pressure
Dynamic: neck circles, left and right, and head “tipping,” left and right
Rolling: Ball in upper traps or between shoulder blades, lay on back, do “Snowangels”
Strength: Focus on posture- with miss cap work, band pull aparts, rows
Random add on facts for your health!
Ice muscle strains only for 24 hours. Then, straight to heat and blood flow. Same as ankle sprains. Heat = healing, ice is a very ineffective anti-inflammatory after initial injury response from the body.
- Never overstretch muscle tears or strains, it only will make them worse. Roll, mush, massage.
- In order to get a mx benefit from stretching, you must have an elevated hear rate (50% max) and elevated core body temp. So, warm up properly before stretching, before play!
- Paddle tennis offers a tremendous amount of demand for ankle stability and proprioception. The court itself, giving intense amounts of friction, purposely due to the nature of the sport in the winter, allows for quick direction changes. However, it requires a very quick response time of the ankle stabilizers as well as outer hip muscles, spine, hip abductors and more. Agility training is imperative, no matter what your level, in injury prevention
- Your abdominals work harder at times in paddle than they do in regular tennis. A smaller court, quicker motions. Every time your arm reaches out, abs and spine stabilizers fire. The quicker your reach, the further from midline, the more they are demanded to fire. If you are working core exercises in your off time, include a great deal of isometrics, planks, and purposeful rotational exercises to prep your body to avoid spine disc injuries
- Muscle cramps? Could be cold weather, lack of improper warm up, or even vitamin deficiencies. If you consistently get them, consider adding to your play day regime electrolyte tabs, as Gatorade has them, but gives you an unnecessary amount of sugars
Have fun, play safe, and paddle on……