Abstract
There is great interest in tennis sports science and in the wheelchair tennis community on the overall injury incidence in competitive wheelchair tennis players. There are biomechanical differences between the wheelchair tennis and the able-bodied tennis serve that have been published. In addition, wheelchair tennis players are required to propel their wheelchair around the court during match play, which exposes the upper extremities and trunk to additional movements during tennis play. Currently, there is a paucity of data published on the injury incidence in competitive wheelchair tennis athletes. PURPOSE: To provide a prospective evaluation of the injury incidence in wheelchair tennis players during their competitive schedule. METHODS: The study is a prospective cohort study of competitive wheelchair tennis players during their seasons. 81 subjects were enrolled at 5 different tennis tournaments over a two year period. Subjects completed an injury history and a training log at the beginning of the study. 39 subjects volunteered for a physical exam at the start of the study. Once enrolled in the study, the subjects were monitored for injuries through weekly email communication. RESULTS: The injury incidence is calculated to be 1.88 injuries per 100 athletic exposures. Of the reported injuries, 2 occurred during match play, 3 occurred during training, and 8 were reported while not playing tennis. There were no statistically significant findings associating physical exam findings and future injury. CONCLUSIONS: An injury incidence in competitive wheelchair tennis athletes obtained while competing and training prospectively contributes to the body of evidence to guide further research to evaluate the mechanism of injuries and develop injury risk reduction strategies in a unique population of high performance athletes. Future injury risk reduction strategies should include a focus on potential causes of non-tennis related injuries in competitive wheelchair tennis players.
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