TENNIS BIOMECHANICS

now a much greater body of knowledge and understanding about the contribution that sports science can make, both to the professional game but also to the recre- ational player wanting to continue in his chosen sport at a satisfying level for as long as he wishes.

THE AUTHORS ■ Dr Mark Goss-Sampson is principle lectur- er in sports science, Dr Sally Parsonage is progamme leader for sports science with tennis coaching, and development manag- er, Centre for Sport & Exercise Sciences, and Jenny Strickland is a chartered physiother- apist and lecturer in functional anatomy and biomechanics. All the authors are based at The Centre for Sport and Exercise Sciences, part of the University of Greenwich at Medway. The Centre boasts a state-of-the-art biomechanics and exercise physiology laboratories, a sports injury and rehabilitation unit, and sports nutrition expertise. A number of undergraduate, postgraduate and continuing professional development courses are taught, including Sports Science with Professional Tennis

Coaching, in partnership with the Professional Tennis Registry UK. The work described above was initiated as part of a 3rd year research project for this degree, and this line of research will be continued with high level players from the PTR National Academy. ■ The PTR is an international coaching organisation with 11,000 coaches world- wide and a strong and growing base of 800 in the UK. The PTR method of coaching is based on creating biomechanically sound technique, and sports science principles are applied to coaching right up to the highest levels of performance. For more information visit www.PTRuk.com or call 07000 877878.

References and recommended reading 1. Sahrmann S. Diagnosis and Treatment of Movement Impaired Syndromes. ISBN 0801672058 published by Mosby 2001. 2. Groppel JL, Loehr JE, Melville SD, Quinn AM. Science of Coaching Tennis (2nd ed). ISBN 0880113375 by Leisure Press, USA 1989. 3. Van der Meer D, Kibler WB. The biomechanical fundamentals, the commonalities and the prefer- ences of tennis strokes in Tennis Science and Technology edited by Haake SJ, Coe A. ISBN 063205638X by Blackwell Science 2000.

Figure 5: The diagram shows a 3D analysis of a closed stance forehand. The red dots are the retro- reflective markers positioned at key anatomical points, and on the racket - these are tracked during the stroke by 6 infra-red cameras, and the data is handled by Qualisys Motion Manager software.

For clarification the points can be joined which makes it easier to visualise the whole body move- ments - in this case the racket trajectory and the movement of the right hip are shown as white lines. This is a fairly classic closed stance forehand which shows a slight “loop” on the backswing, then the forward swing with the racket head moving from low to high just before contact with the ball. During the forward swing to contact point the right hip has rotated from the “closed” starting position to be almost facing the net by the time the ball is struck.

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The British Institute of Musculoskeletal Medicine and the Society of

Orthopaedic Medicine present

Pain Perceptions 6th December 2003

Lectures include: ● Maladaptive pain and the vulnerable organism ● The clinical effect of TENS for pain relief ● The role of the

human pelvis in locomotion and prolotherapy treatments ● Recent developments in back pain in the UK ● The neuromuscular basis of rehabilitation ● Prolotherapy - its uses, effectiveness and scientific validation. in association with

The UK Association of Doctors in Sport presents

The Infrapatellar Tendon 5th December 2003

Lectures include:

● Radiology of the tendon ● The surgeon’s perspective ● The medical perspective ● The physiotherapist’s perspective ● Clinical cases forum

Friday £140 members, £160 non members Saturday £80 members, £95 non members.

Friday and Saturday £205 members, £240 non members For more details contact Amanda Sherwood on

01454 610255 or via e-mail admin@soc-ortho-med.org or for the full programme and registration forms visit the website at www.soc-ortho-med.org

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