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Diagnosis and Management of Partial- and Full-Thickness Rotator Cuff Tears in Tennis Players

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Tennis Medicine

Abstract

Tennis continues to be one of the most popular sports in the world, and as interest grows, our understanding of the physiologic demands of the sport also increases. During the course of a standard tennis match, players are required to repetitively exert themselves in short, but explosive, bursts of energy several hundred times [1]. This is especially true during the serve, but all types of strokes place very unique demands on the upper extremity [2–4]. To better understand the physiologic processes occurring during the serve, it has been broken down into five distinct phases: (1) windup, (2) early cocking, (3) late cocking, (4) acceleration, and (5) follow-through [4, 5]. In order to successfully execute these phases, energy must be transferred efficiently and effectively along the entire kinetic chain of motion. Although the greatest stress to the shoulder occurs during the cocking and acceleration phases, disruption of the kinetic chain at any point in the process can place the shoulder at risk for injury [6].

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Camp, C.L., Dare, D.M., Altchek, D.W. (2018). Diagnosis and Management of Partial- and Full-Thickness Rotator Cuff Tears in Tennis Players. In: Di Giacomo, G., Ellenbecker, T., Kibler, W. (eds) Tennis Medicine. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71498-1_13

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