Perfil das lesões músculo esqueléticas em atletas de tênis: uma revisão narrativa

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The tennis imposes great biomechanical demand on musculoskeletal system and requires neuromuscular coordination, speed, agility and muscle power. Unlike many sports, the current duration of a match, is not determined by time. Therefore, matches can last several hours, requiring hundreds of hits, and explosive energy peaks. The aerobic and anaerobic recruitment in tennis performance, combined with those biomechanical load, result in a typical profile of sports injuries. These overuse and overload demand occurs almost daily and can cause time loss from match or make the athletes feel unable to continue playing, even after medical care. In this sense,the understanding of injuries and their characteristics is the first step to introduce prevention programs. OBJECTIVE: Perform a narrative review of the literature on the incidence and prevalence of injuries in tennis (Amateur, Youth and Professional) and their characteristics. METHODOLOGY: The narrative literature review of this study was performed by searching the database Pubmed , including articles with the following keywords: tennis athlete, injuries prevalence. The search was limited to english languages. RESULTS: Were found 36 articles and analyzed 14 articles. Were excluded 22 articles due to others topics, like: table tennis athletes, volleyball, wheelchair, insurance, gymnasts, surgical cases, windsurfing, and fractures varied in others sports, specific of ACL or knee. CONCLUSION: Tennis is a sport with relatively high occurrence of acute injuries during tournaments and championships, mainly in the qualifying stages. Acute injuries occur most often in the lower limbs (ankle), and overuse injuries occurred more frequently in the upper limbs (shoulder). These acute injuries are more frequent in professional while overload occur more in young and recreational athletes.