What is tennis leg

The injury is caused by a sudden extension of the knee while the foot is dorsiflexed, or by a sudden dorsiflexion when the knee is extended. The injury occurs most often in middle-aged athletes after some degeneration of the tendon, who play sports such as tennis, squash, and basketball Access to the complete content on Oxford Reference requires a subscription or purchase.

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Roll it out. Foam rolling is a great way to stretch and massage your muscles and fascia after you play. I recommend combining this with your stretching. Roll each muscle for about 30 seconds. At the end of your day, take a warm bath with cups of Epsom salts for about 15 minutes. The magnesium sulphate in the Epsom salts is soothing for sore, tight and tired muscles and diminishes pain and muscle tension promoting more restful sleep. If you have experienced a calf muscle strain or Tennis leg, consider applying a compression sleeve around the lower leg.

During the cool weather months, adapt your clothing to the weather conditions. It may be a good idea to wear pants, running tights, or compression gear to keep your legs warm. Well-warmed muscles are better able to withstand pulling and traction forces than cold muscles. Every few weeks, consider investing in a deep tissue or sports massage to help improve circulation and repair tired, sore, tight muscles. Massage helps your on-court performance, so make time for it! Cross train.

Cycling, running, Pilates and yoga as great ways to cross train for tennis, which build strength and flexibility and will help reduce your risk of muscle trains and tears. Tennis Leg is a common injury seen in recreational tennis players that is a result of repetitive overload and lack of preparation and recovery. You will need to take time off tennis to rehab your injury.

Even the more milder strains will benefit from a few physical therapy sessions to ensure that all mobility, flexibility and power return the injured muscle. Seek immediate care from a Physical Therapist to take advantage of the many treatment interventions available and to learn the prevention strategies necessary to get you back on the court safely and quickly.

For nearly five years she was a full-time sports physiotherapist for the WTA Tour and is a tennis medicine expert. Learn more by visiting onetherapy. Tennis Leg Care and Treatment. Previous Next. Get A Leg Up A Physical Therapist can treat tennis leg and implement prevention strategies necessary to get you back on the court safely and quickly.

Immediate Care Rest. Picture this: you are playing a highly-competitive game of tennis with a friend when you stop quickly and then accelerate to reach a shot. You limp off the court and try to stretch. It hurts too bad. In fact, you have to sit and wait until the pain goes away before you can hobble out to your car. It is not a tear of the Achilles and it generally does not need surgery. Sports medicine used to think tennis leg was due to a rupture of the small muscle in the back of your knee.

Not true. It actually involves a tear of the tendon and muscle portion of your calf. However, the combination of superior foot traction you get from high-performance footwear on the surface of a tennis court leads to abrupt and sudden changes of direction, putting stress on the gastrocnemius and tearing if the muscle stretches too far.

Mechanism of Injury Sudden forceful contraction of the calf eg, when pushing off to change direction on the tennis court. Ruptures of the calf musculature usually occur near the point where the Achilles tendon merges with the inner belly of the calf muscle. Symptoms In the calf there is sudden pain, which may feel like a blow on the leg from behind. There is difficulty in contracting the calf muscle and walking on tiptoe.

Local tenderness occurs over the injured area.