Prevent injury this paddle tennis season!

• Drink water!

  1. It’s recommended that everybody should drink 1/2 their body weight in ounces of water per day. For every hour of paddle, add another 8 ounces to make up for the sweat you’re losing!

• Get Sleep!

  1. Sleep is one of the most essential (and overlooked) pieces to peak physical performance and recovery. Getting at least 8 hours of sleep a night will help improve your reaction times and endurance and decrease the chances of form breakdown and/or thoughtless movements that might lead to injury.

• Warm up!

  1. Be sure to adequately warm up before jumping in a paddle tennis match. Try performing a more dynamic warm up and save the static stretching until afterwards. Getting your heart rate up a little bit to increase your body temperature will allow your muscles to have more blood flow, oxygen and better extensibility. By getting warm, your body will be better prepared for the quick movements, contractions and stretches you will have to do during the match!

• Cool down!

  1. Recovery is one of the most neglected parts of a sporting activity and can have a tremendous impact on your body if not done properly. Take 10-15 min after you’re done playing to cool down properly and you’ll be able to maintain the strength, flexibility and agility gains you’ve made while playing. Maintaining blood flow after playing will keep your muscles healthy and allow them to recovery much faster than if you were to stop and sit down immediately following.

• Stay on top of your ankle range of motion and strength exercises!

  1. Due to the inherent friction of the court surface with paddle, it demands a high level of ankle stability and proprioception (awareness of where your joint is in space). Given the speed of play and quick direction changes, it requires quick reaction times and activation of your ankle stabilizers as well as your gluteus, core and hip muscles. Agility training, core strengthening, ankle range of motion exercises, ankle strengthening and balance training are all imperative to keep you off the injured list and in the game!