How to protect your spine from your tennis serve

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How to protect your spine from your tennis
servehttp//www.tennisidentity.com/2017/02/how-
to-protect-your-spine-from-your-tennis-serve.html
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When most people think about chronic injuries
that occur from tennis, they usually think of
tennis elbow. But if you ask a serious tennis
player about the most common tennis-related
injuries, low back pain will almost always make
that list. Theres good reason for that. We spoke
with Dr. Todd Lanman, a spine surgeon in Beverly
Hills, California. He says that imaging
studies such as MRI show that 62 of serious
amateur, elite, and professional tennis players
have injuries in the spine in their lower backs.
In fact, four out of ten professional tennis
players admit to missing at least one tennis
tournament because of low back pain. So while
low back pain and spine injury may not be as
famous as an injury in that other joint, it is
clearly a big problem for tennis players.
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When most people think about chronic injuries
that occur from tennis, they usually think of
tennis elbow. But if you ask a serious tennis
player about the most common tennis-related
injuries, low back pain will almost always make
that list. Theres good reason for that. We spoke
with Dr. Todd Lanman, a spine surgeon in Beverly
Hills, California. He says that imaging
studies such as MRI show that 62 of serious
amateur, elite, and professional tennis players
have injuries in the spine in their lower backs.
In fact, four out of ten professional tennis
players admit to missing at least one tennis
tournament because of low back pain. So while
low back pain and spine injury may not be as
famous as an injury in that other joint, it is
clearly a big problem for tennis players.
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If youre an avid player, youve probably thought
a lot about your serve. But you may not have
thought a lot about how your body is affected by
your serve. Dr. Lanman states, One of the most
common causes of back pain and injury to tennis
players is the serve. You place extreme forces on
your spine during a tennis serve. Dr. Lanman is
a world-renowned spine surgeon at Cedars-Sinai
Medical Center in Los Angeles. As a top back and
neck surgery specialist practicing in Beverly
Hills, he counts many professional athletes,
business leaders, and entertainment luminaries
among his clients. Consider what a serve does to
your body. You start out by hyperextending your
back, stretching out the muscles and elongating
the spine. The spinal column is not vertically
straight during the serve, either, as it would
like to be. The serve itself is a violently rapid
contraction of these same muscles coupled with a
forcible rotation of almost the entire
body. Imagine how these forces are transmitted
along the length of your spine. The vertebrae in
your lower back (lumbar vertebral) really dont
handle rotation very well, especially forceful
rotation. The vertebral discs between the bones
dont handle it well either. This is largely why
30 of tennis players have disc herniation (i.e.
bulging disc) in their lumbar spines (i.e. lower
back).
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The backswing and contact arent even the most
spine-damaging parts of the serve. Dr. Lanman
adds, It really is the deceleration after the
ball has been hit that causes the extreme forces
that damage the discs and joints throughout the
spine. The strongest abnormal forces occur
toward the end of your follow-through, when the
body slows itself down. The muscles in the back
and abdomen have to stabilize the body after this
explosion of energy. These core muscles are also
the way that tennis players can protect the
health of their spines. Tennis players with
weaker core muscles are more likely to experience
injuries, says Dr. Lanman, So strengthening
these core muscles is an important way to protect
against injury. Treatment and conditioning
programs for tennis players desiring to
strengthen their core muscles often focus of
eccentric and plyometric exercises. During
eccentric exercises, the muscles contract as they
lengthen. One example of an eccentric exercise is
to keep tension on the biceps while straightening
the arms after a curl. Plyometric exercises
involve stretching the muscle before contracting,
and applying high force over short periods.
Plyometric exercises are sometimes called jump
training because plyometric exercises in the
legs include explosive jumps. The exercises help
build up a reserve that can protect bones and
joints for the stresses of repeated tennis
serves.
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It is also important to remember that the
muscles of the back are just as important to core
strengthening as abdominal muscles are. I tell
my patients to work the muscles that extend the
back twice as hard as they work the abdominal and
oblique muscles in the front. The extensor
muscles are often overlooked, but they are the
ones that decelerate the motion at the end of the
tennis serve, states Dr. Lanman. It is more
difficult to target the back muscles, but back
curls against light resistance are a good
start. Exercises arent always enough to prevent
or treat spine injuries caused by playing tennis,
however. Many tennis players will eventually need
spine surgery to relieve pain or other symptoms.
For some, spinal fusion surgery is a reasonable
option. However, if tennis players wish to return
to play, Dr. Lanman tells us, artificial disc
replacement is the better option.
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Artificial disc replacement is superior to
fusion for maintaining spinal motion and
mobility. With fusion, the spinal bones are
fused together, but with disk replacement, the
individual vertebral bones keep their ability to
move. This is essential for elite and
professional tennis players who want to stay at
the top of the sport. Artificial disc
replacement surgery can be performed without any
damage to the muscles of the spine, recovery is
faster, and players can return to play more
quickly. It really is the better surgical
treatment for active, young adults. It seems the
key to protecting your spine from your serve is
to make sure core strengthening is part of your
overall workout routine. Dr. Lanman reminds,
your back muscles are part of your core, so work
them twice as hard as your work your abs. And if
you do end up needing spine surgery (Heaven
forbid) and want to get back out on the court,
artificial disc replacement is a good option.
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Sources Alyas F, Turner M, Connell D. MRI
findings in the lumbar spines of asymptomatic,
adolescent, elite tennis players. Br J Sports
Med. Nov 200741(11)836-841 discussion 841.
doi10.1136/bjsm.2007.037747 Maquirriain J,
Ghisi JP, Kokalj AM. Rectus abdominis muscle
strains in tennis players. Br J Sports Med. Nov
200741(11)842-848. doi10.1136/bjsm.2007.036129
Marks MR, Haas SS, Wiesel SW. Low back pain in
the competitive tennis player. Clin Sports Med.
Apr 19887(2)277-287. TAGS Spine surgeon Dr.
Todd Lanman Dr. Todd Lanman Spine
surgeon Neurosurgery Specialists in Beverly
Hills Spine surgeon Beverly Hills