Risk Factors for Upper Limb Injury in Tennis Players: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Studies in tennis injuries have successfully identified the incident rate, the location, and the type of the injury. The majority of the studies have multiple perspectives (epidemiology, biomechanics, performance), however only a few studies were able to identify risk factors or mechanisms that contribute to tennis injuries. Until now, there has not been a systematic literature review that identifies risk factors for tennis injuries. The objective of this review was to identify and critically appraise the evidence related to risk factors for upper limb injury in tennis players. A systematic review was conducted in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) framework, using a research question developed by the Patient Problem, (or Population) Intervention, Comparison or Control, and Outcome (PICO) methodology. The quality of the studies included was moderate to low, indicating prolonged tennis (exposure to tennis), scapular dyskinesis, muscle fatigue, scapulothoracic properties, shoulder kinetics or kinematics, skill level, and technique as risk factors for upper limb injury in tennis players. In this review, it is evidenced that the majority of tennis injuries are associated with overuse and a chronic time course, however, tennis injuries do not arise from a linear combination of isolated and predictive factors. Therefore, the multifactorial and complex nature of tennis injuries has to be further examined. The necessity of more randomized control trial studies is highly recommended.

Discinese escapular em atletas de esportes acima da cabeça: revisão integrativa

“…Há importância no gerenciamento ideal da carga de treinamento, fazendo-se necessário quantificar a carga de treino e adaptá-la a cada atleta. A frequência das partidas esportivas e a intensidade do treinamento têm uma influência importante nos problemas do ombro, ampliando as lesões por esforço causadas por movimentos inadequados e falta de tempo de recuperação (Tooth, 2020;Moller, 2017;Kekelekis, 2020).…”

“…Ao analisar os fatores de riscos potenciais para causar lesão de membro superiores em tenistas pode-se observar que os principais são: tênis prolongado, discinesia escapular, fadiga muscular, propriedades escapulotorácicas, cinemática do ombro, nível de habilidade e técnica. Os tenistas com discinese escapular tendem a apresentar redução do escapo subacromial, a discinesia escapular pode reduzir o espaço subacromial, embora as evidências para isso sejam confusas, também pode reduzir a força do manguito rotador, essa pode prejudicar o controle motor, resultando na translação superior e posterior da cabeça do úmero gerando um desgaste mecânico das estruturas do espaço subacromial (Kekelekis, 2020;Hickey, 2017).…”

Injuries resulting from practicing performance sports in table tennis and tennis

“…Traumas to the shoulder joint are very frequent in professional tennis players, mainly due to the repetitive mechanical overload of the shoulder joint. Shoulder pain was present in 24% of top tennis players with ages comprised between 12 and 19 years old (9). Muscle misalignment caused by repetitive unilateral movements (15) that cause stress on fascial tissues, intervertebral discs, spinal ligaments and not only.…”

“…(21)In this review, 68 questionnaires were completed by top Slovenian athletes. Of which 29 are table tennis players and 39 tennis players.The average age of questioned athletes was 19.37 years (9).…”

Association Between Spikes in External Training Load and Shoulder Injuries in Competitive Adolescent Tennis Players: The SMASH Cohort Study

“…12 In overhead sports, shoulder injuries and shoulder pain pose substantial problems for athletes, and several studies have presented a variety of risk factors such as decreased shoulder strength, range of motion deficits, and scapular dyskinesia that increase the risk of these complaints. 6,28,31,38,40,43,44 Based on previous research (ie, cross-sectional data, prospective studies, and systematic reviews), shoulder injuries have been identified as one of the most common in young tennis players, 1,2,13,15,19,25,29,37,41 with an incidence of 2.6 to 3.6 injuries per 1000 hours played. 17 Over the past decade, the acute:chronic workload ratio (ACWR) and its association with noncontact and contact injuries has been extensively investigated.…”