The prevalence of musculoskeletal injuries in tennis players : a case study

Abstract

Tennis is a popular sport both globally and locally. It is characterised by repeated strokes and explosive movements, which places the athlete at a high – risk of injuries. This study aimed at gathering data on the prevalence of tennis-related musculoskeletal injuries and injury characteristics from a local Maltese tennis club and analyse the impact of using different injury definitions on the number of collected injuries. Through this case study, an adapted version of the OSTRC questionnaire was distributed via email to members of one Maltese amateur tennis club. Using the ‘all physical complaints’ injury definition data on the prevalence and characteristics of musculoskeletal injuries suffered in the previous 6 months was gathered. Results were then analysed via SPSS and Microsoft Office Excel. A total of 61 injuries from 106 participants were recorded, with a point prevalence of 57.5%. 11 out of these 61 injuries were ‘time-loss’ injuries, and 33 were substantial injuries. The most injured locations were the elbow, knee, and ankle. Gradual onset were the most common, with most of them occurring in the elbow (41%). The ankle was mostly impacted by sudden onset injuries (36.3%). Following injury severity calculations, sudden onset injuries to the thigh and gradual onset injuries to the elbow and knee were the most burdensome. Through this study, an overview of injury prevalence and awareness from a small group of tennis players from one club has been obtained, setting recommendations for a local wide scale study to investigate the total population prevalence, information which will provide more insight for physiotherapists to help with injury prevention programmes, especially focusing on the elbow and knee, seeing that both were most frequently recorded and most burdensome.