Answer to FAQs: Should I take a week off tennis? How often should I rest from tennis?
[ In this blog post I talk about the importance of recovery on a macro level (days to weeks). Specifically, whether tennis athletes should have 1-2 week breaks built into their schedule in an effort to reduce injury risk. This is contrast to appropriate micro-recovery for tennis players (hours to days) while competing ]
High velocity, high repetition overhead throwing motions are widely considered the most demanding of movements on the shoulder, elbow and wrist. Most of the current research available is in reference to baseball pitchers. While the kinematic sequence is similar, there are relevant differences to the motion in each sport that ghouls be factored in. In addition, tennis has an impact force with each swing due to contact with the ball. We are going to dissect all of these factors and end with a recommendation on adequate macro rest for tennis players.
Fun fact: did you know that the stress of this type of motion is so great that when done repeatedly in adolescent athletes it can change the structure of their humerus (upper arm bone)? It causes an increase in the humeral retroversion angle in the throwing arm. This is considered a positive adaptation for overhead athletes, allowing more external rotation during cocking phase without soft tissue stretching.
[ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4622383/ ]
As with all stresses on the body, there is an optimal amount. We want to establish a level of stress that forces muscles, tendons, and ligaments to adapt and strengthen. We also want to avoid the amount of stress that leads to overuse injuries.
I like to look at the amount of stress we place on the tennis athletes in cycles. Within a cycle of training, we apply enough stress to create micro-trauma and recovery day to day. With proper nutrition and sleep, we can handle these day to day fluctuations for a significant amount of time. However, throughout this cycle we are continuing to layer stress on the same structures repeatedly.
Eventually, we will get to a point that is appropriate to undergo a longer period of rest. You can think of it as a brief window that we can undergo a more complete recovery of all involved structures, and let those nagging aches and pains fade away. While there is no exact recommendation for tennis athletes, we can use some of the suggestions provided for baseball players.
The American Sports Medicine Institute (ASMI) recommends “no overhead throwing of any kind of at least 2-3 months per year” in order to prevent injuries to adolescent baseball pitchers.
At first read, you may do the math and think that taking 8-12 weeks off from tennis, even if spread throughout the year, is too much. That is fair, and I believe the recommendations should be different for tennis as well.
It’s important to consider the differences between baseball and tennis. In general, it is considered that shoulder and elbow injuries are more common in baseball players. This is presumed to be because the forces from baseball pitching are higher. While I won’t break into the statistics, there are several reasons this could be true
Baseball has a mound – Baseball is throwing from the hand, tennis has a racquet – Baseball throws are all at 100%, tennis has a variation of intensities and strokes
The above list could go on, but I think it’s reasonable enough to say that tennis requires less time off assuming micro rest cycles are also appropriate for the athlete [new data in the future could change this]. This leads to the next natural question
How much time off is the right amount of time?
My suggestion (to start) is 1 consecutive week off, at least 4 times per year.
You could modify how these are done in any number of ways, but the week off should be CONSECUTIVE. Meaning, that you can’t take 2 days off here, 3 days there, and 2 days later and act like that counts as one week off. It should be 7 straight days without swinging a racquet.
This is also only a starting point. Monitor your athletes. Does your athlete have more injuries than other players? Then maybe they should have 5-6 weeks off total. Are they missing their goals for nutrition and sleep? Then they may need more total rest overall. It is always wise to continually adjust any plan for maximum benefit to each individual tennis athlete.
Below are a few examples of what this off time could look like:
1 week off each quarter
2 weeks off at the end of school season, 2 weeks off during the holiday season/winter.
1 week off prior to college fall tennis season, 1 week off after college fall tennis season/before spring tennis season, 2 weeks off after college spring season.
The last point I will make is that this rest is more than just physical. Burnout is extremely common in youth athletes playing year round, especially those playing an individual sport like tennis. A week off is not only a benefit physically, but mentally. A break from the day to day grind of living with each of your mistakes and failures on the court is needed (sometimes even more than a physical break is needed). Missing your sport has value. It makes you ready to get back on court and compete at a high level. Often times, a level higher than what you were competing at before the rest.
In the name, of keeping athletes healthy (physically and mentally), happy, and at the top of their game, please consider breaks from the sport. I think you will quickly see the benefit.
– Dr. Joe Combs, PT, DPT, CSCS