Dr. Alexis Colvin is an orthopedic surgeon and Assistant Professor of Orthopedics at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City. Her expertise is sports medicine. Her clinical and research interests include knee, shoulder and hip disorders, as well as injuries and treatments.
Dr. Colvin is the Chief Medical Officer for the USTA and has served as a physician for the USTA during the U.S. Open. She is also the medical advisor for the U.S. Fed Cup team.
Q: How can recreational tennis injuries be prevented?
A: The good thing is that a lot of injuries from overuse are preventable because it’s something that happens from poor technique or repetitive motion (doing the same motion over and over again). Things that you can work on is strengthening the shoulder, working on strengthening the rotator cuff muscles, varying your strokes. You know, not always doing the same motion all the time.
With the lateral epicondylitis (tennis elbow), besides working on strengthening, you want to make sure you have a good fit with your racquet. You want to make sure the grip is comfortable and not too small—the strings are not really tight and you have a good, large sweet spot so you don’t have as much stress being fitted over to your elbow.
For the knees and tendonitis, work on strengthening the muscles around the knee.