Perhaps the best part of tennis is that it can be practiced at any age. While trying to get away from the pressure of busy work life, we must question whether our musculoskeletal system is ready for the physical strains encountered on the court. Otherwise, problems start in our musculoskeletal system by trying to do sports.
Firstly; Is our musculoskeletal system ready for new loads?
Is our endurance enough to return to sports or participate in tournaments?
Do we practice and attach importance to enough before we get started?
We have to ask ourselves many questions like.
We should know well that Endurance is an attribute that we will gain with practice over time. Exercises to increase the strength contribution of fibers with different properties in the muscle mass require regular training. As the athlete regularly participates in the exercises, the endurance will develop automatically.
You have been doing sports for a long time, but if you have exceeded your stay on the court a little that day, you have an unbearable heel pain, you have become almost unable to step, you should start the treatment by paying attention to your shoes. If the court floor is not soil or grass, the usual tennis shoes on the hard ground will cause the abnormal loads of the under-heel fat pad to reflect directly on your heel bone. This situation may cause heel pad compresibility synd. You should choose shoes that have shock absorbing structures at the sole and that grip the heel.
Our foot transfers our weight to the floor at three points. These are the protrusion under the heel bone (calcaneus), the end of the comb bone of the 1st and 5th fingers. The hard floor will cause pain in the normal foot by exerting pressure effect on these points.
The second problem may be dynamically disturbances of the common beams of the inner foot muscles (plantar fascia). The common beam plantar fascia provides movement with the spinning wheel mechanism. Plantar fasciitis is when muscle groups with insufficient endurance give the load before the adhesion and cause problems such as tearing. Although this situation requires a physician’s intervention, it once again reveals the importance of shoe selection.
Let’s not forget that the famous Achilles tendon is attached to our heel bone. It attaches to the heel as the common beam of the muscles that start from our Achilles leg, performing the function of jumping and walking. In cases where the durability is low, loading may cause similar breaks. If the loading occurs to the place of direct adhesion, it is “insertional-adhesion” tendinitis, above it noninsertional. In these two cases, whose treatments are different, your physician’s guidance will be required.
Finally, if we touch on the problems our joints will encounter on the court, torsions can injure ligament and cartilage structures. Since strong muscle structures will provide balanced weight transfer, the risk of joint injury is minimal. When the joint limit is forced, respectively, our capsule, our ligaments, then our bones resist the forces. In a balanced load, ligament rupture, fractures and more importantly, cartilage injuries do not occur.
Let’s not forget, our freedom on the court depends on our technique, our endurance, as well as our musculoskeletal health. Do not hesitate to consult a physician for foot pain that does not go away despite changing your shoe preferences. Healthy sports.
Note: This Article is the text of the article I wrote for the Sports International magazine.