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Keywords

Health Care Competency

Abstract

The muscles of the forearm undergo routine, forceful, and repetitive contractions while playing tennis and may experience adaptive changes that can precede injury. An understanding of forearm strength profiles of tennis players following a competitive season would assist clinicians’ evidence-based management of the forearm’s readiness for training, competition, and return-to-sport participation. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore the effects of a competitive tennis season on forearm strength among collegiate tennis athletes. A prospective, case-series design was used to examine a convenience sample of 15 asymptomatic NCAA Division I tennis players (males = 10, height = 182.88 [SD 5.35] cm, mass = 76.70 [SD 5.20] kg, age = 20.50 [SD 1.65] years; females = 5, height = 170.18 [SD 3.33] cm, mass = 65.68 [SD 7.09] kg, age = 20.75 [SD 1.67] years). All measurements occurred within a functioning university sports performance center. Main outcome measures included bilateral grip, pronation, supination, and wrist flexion and extension strength. Measures were performed using hand-held dynamometry immediately before and after a competitive season by a single examiner. Paired t-tests with Bonferonni correction (P < .005) showed a statistically significant increase with large effect size in GripNon-Dominant (P = .002, d = 0.98) and a decrease in Wrist ExtensionNon- Dominant (P < .001, d = 1.19) from pre- to post-season. No other statistically significant strength changes were observed in either the dominant (P > .019) or non-dominant (P > .460) forearms. Among healthy collegiate tennis players, forearm strength predominantly does not change over the course of a season. Clinicians should consider this normative profile of forearm strength and serial testing procedure in efforts to monitor and optimize the physical readiness of their tennis athletes, guide preventive and rehabilitative arm care programming, and prevent injury.

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