Padel, Tennis & Racquet Sport Injury Rehabilitation

Padel has grown faster in Johannesburg than almost any other sport, and it does not injure people the way tennis does. The enclosed court produces high-frequency changes of direction over a short distance, overhead smashes played in a compressed space, and wrist loading from balls taken low and hard off the glass.

The result is a lateral elbow presentation that does not behave like classic tennis elbow, TFCC and ulnar-sided wrist injuries that are frequently missed, rotator cuff irritation driven by thoracic stiffness rather than by the shoulder itself, and lateral ankle sprains on the turn.

Tennis loads differently again: more overhead volume, more trunk rotation, more sustained serving. Lateral elbow pain in a tennis player is very often a grip-strength and shoulder problem expressing itself further down the arm, which is why isolated elbow treatment so frequently fails.

Treatment in both sports starts with isometric loading for pain control, progresses to heavy slow resistance for the tendon, and addresses the shoulder, thoracic spine and grip mechanics that caused the overload. Technique and equipment (grip size, string tension, racquet weight) are reviewed as part of the plan.