Physiatrist: “Thigh and big toe ligament injuries more frequent in beach tennis”

Once upon a time, wooden rackets and a tennis ball were enough to transform a piece of beach into Wimbledon’s center court. Today, beach tennis continues to be a summer hit with increasingly high-performance equipment. But it often takes training in movements on the sand. “According to a recent study conducted on about 200 beach tennis players, the incidence of injuries in BT is 1.81 per 1000 hours of play. Overload injuries were more frequent in the upper limb (shoulder and elbow tendinopathy), while acute injuries were more frequent in the lower limb, which was the site of more acute injuries (thigh muscles and ligaments of the big toe and ankle)”. This is what Andrea Bernetti, vice president of the Italian Society of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (Simfer), says to Adnkronos Salute about the risks of ‘cracks’ linked to beach tennis, the second of 3 focuses on the most popular beach sports in the summer.

“Because beach tennis generally involves many movements with the arm holding the racket in elevation including serving, defensive moves and attacks, this could explain the higher incidence of rotator cuff injuries. Furthermore, moving on the sand requires more energy due to the greater mechanical work and the lower effectiveness of muscular work – continues Bernetti – Players modify joint positions and movements to adapt to the sand and to execute the required shots. For example, when jumping, it is more difficult for the ankle to push the body vertically. In practice, greater joint and muscle loads are required on the sand to produce more useful power. This can partly explain the overload injuries affecting the lumbar spine”.

Another difference highlighted in the study, “is that between competitive and amateur players, generally competitive athletes have a similar amount of acute and chronic injuries, amateur players instead have mainly chronic injuries, which constitute 61.1% of injuries. This – concludes the physiatrist – can be explained by the fact that amateur players have an irregular practice in terms of frequency and intensity, which does not allow the muscle-tendon structures to adapt when they face high workloads, which can be less gradual and continuous than professional players”.