Did you ever feel a table tennis player can be injured? I think no! You must be thinking, only two people play on a table with a small ball and bat, is there anything to be injured?
I will say yes. There is something to be injured.
Let’s see how a player can be injured and what these injuries.
When we enjoy a sport, we don’t know how much mental and physical pressure on a player is going through. How he struggles with such kinds of stuff.
Let’s leave mental pressure. We can talk about this letter. Rather we will talk about physical pressure.
Today, we will talk about table tennis injuries.
As we all know table tennis is a physical sport. That’s why injuries are common things. Though the injuries of table tennis are less mild than other sports.
People play and get injured. It happens. You cannot stop being injured but lessen.
In this article, we will talk about 8 common table tennis injuries and how to deal with them.
Table Tennis Injuries
- Muscle Strain
- Knee joint pain
- Calf Strains
- Shoulder Injury
- Wrist Sprain
- Elbow Pain
- Sprained Ankle
- Lower Back Pain
8 Common Table Tennis Injures
Muscle Strain
muscle strain comes when a muscle gets over starched and pressurized on it. In table tennis, muscle strain can occur in shoulder lower back and hamstring.
Symptoms: If you got a muscle strain, you cannot move the muscle. It will feel pain while moving and get swollen.
Causes
- Not doing warm-up and exercise before starting the game
- Overusing the muscle
- Over fatigue
Prevention: Warm yourself before start playing and do not overuse muscle constantly. Move your muscles carefully while playing the game.
How to Deal with Muscle Strain: If you fall in muscle strain, just avoid moving. Use ice for 15 minutes daily with an ice pack or wrap the ice in a towel. Do not use ice directly on your muscles.
Knee joint pain
Knee joint pain can be a monster for table tennis players. It could tear off the ligament of the knee.
Symptoms: The knee will be weakened and unable to move. Then it will get red and warm.
Causes
- Banding and twisting the knee
- Acute injury, like break bone
Prevention: Make sure the knee protection by using knee straps. Take all the steps carefully during the game and try to be flexible.
How to deal with Knee Joint Pain: Knee joint pain is such a kind of injury that you cannot deal with it by yourself. What you can do is, just stop moving the knee and see a doctor.
Calf Strains
Calf strain injury occurs to the back muscles of legs which are located in between the knee and ankle.
Symptoms: If you are injured with a calf strain, you will feel discomfort walking or running and jumping.
Causes
- Sudden jumping
- Overstretched
- Overuse of the leg
Prevention: Take a little rest during the game break. Make sure your body weight is carried on both legs while standing.
How to Deal with Calf Strain: when you feel calf strain, stop running. Take rest and use some ices. Wear a bandage on the calf to reduce swelling.
Shoulder Injury
It is natural to have a shoulder injury of a table tennis player.
Symptoms: If you got shoulder injuries, you cannot rotate your shoulder normally. You will feel like, the shoulder slide out from the location and you cannot do your daily activities with the shoulder.
Causes
- If shoulder motion range crosses the limit
- Fall and break the shoulder
Prevention: Do some exercises before the game start. Turn your shoulder as much as you can. Do not force your shoulder.
How to deal with Shoulder Injury: Move your shoulder slowly and turn around for five times in a day. Stand facing a wall and hold the wall with your hand then push up slowly.
Wrist Sprain
Wrist sprain means get stretched or tear off the ligaments that connected to the wrist.
Symptoms: If you got a wrist sprain, your wrist will be swollen and feel pain while moving. The wrist will be warm.
Cause
- Falls and twisting while playing
- While returning spin
Prevention: Take shot carefully and don’t move your wrist unnecessarily. Wear wrist ben and take some wrist exercise before starting the game.
How to Deal with Wrist Sprain: Let the wrist rest for 24 hours. And compress with banding. Bend the wrist with a shoulder.
Elbow Pain
Elbow pain is the most common injury of a table tennis player. Elbow is the most useable part of the body in table tennis.
Symptoms: When you got elbow pain. It will feel uncomfortable to move the elbow. It seems like something makes sound inside the joint and it will be swollen.
Causes
- The repetitive motion of the elbow
- Too much swing
- Stress on tendons
Prevention: Make your elbow fit to use by exercise. Do not use the elbow beyond your ability. Let the elbow rest during the game break.
How to deal with Elbow Pain: Elbow is not that kind of injury that you need to see a doctor. Just stop using it for one week as well as moving. Then treat with ice, compress with a bandage, elevate by yourself.
Sprained Ankle
The ankle is a joint, which is connected with the lower part of the knee and foot. A table tennis player often gets injured ankle with the sprain.
Symptoms: When your ankle is injured with a sprain, the blood clots inside the skin. It will be swollen and hurt to walk or stand.
Causes
- Unnatural twisting of the ankle
- Heavy forced on the ankle
- Awkward step
Prevention: Take all the steps carefully while moving. Make sure you are comfortable in your shoes.
How to deal with Sprained Ankle: Wrap your ankle with elastic bandages. If you feel you need crutches to walk, use it. Elevate the foot on pillows and take rest.
Lower Back Pain
Lower back pain is the most common injury for every age of people. A table tennis player is also at risk to get injured with lower back pain.
Symptoms: If you injured with lower back pain, the moving range of motion will be interrupted. And your buttocks can be a pain.
Cause
- Falling
- Bend or twisting
Prevention: Keep your body in control. Do not bend your back too much to control.
How to Deal with Back Pain: Use an ice pack to reduce swelling. And if swelling is gone apply heat. You can take painkillers if the doctor recommends. And of course, take some rest.
Final Verdict
If you enjoy playing, you have to accept another toxic part of a sport that is an injury. As same as if you play table tennis, you have to deal with table tennis injuries. People paly and often get injured. But if you quit the sport for fear of being injured, it doesn’t make any sense. So, enjoy and play carefully.