Shoulder/arm fatigue

So I've noticed if I do any vigorous physical activity that has me sweating and out of breath my right arm from my shoulder to my bicep feels heavy and and, seemingly, tired. I don't get the same sensation in my left arm. I sometimes get a sharp pain in my shoulder when I swing my arm in a mock tennis swing, but that doesn't happen often and the pain has never worried me.

I'm right handed and tennis is really the only thing that I feel could have caused anything to happen to my arm.

Has any one had this experience? Any idea what the cause might be?

It sounds like a shoulder injury but the tireness can indicate a back injury, it's problably caused because you overhit your serves, try more placement over power and if it really hurts you should consider taking a week off or maybe two. Or try playing without making any serves and see if you are still in pain in that case you probably have an upper back injury.

It sounds like a shoulder injury but the tireness can indicate a back injury, it's problably caused because you overhit your serves, try more placement over power and if it really hurts you should consider taking a week off or maybe two. Or try playing without making any serves and see if you are still in pain in that case you probably have an upper back injury.

The thing is that I don't play that often, although I used to for about three years, and the first time I noticed the tiredness was during a period in which I hadn't played for about 2 or 3 months. I'm sure that it's caused by tennis, though, because as I mentioned tennis is the only thing I've really used this shoulder for. Also, the pain that I've felt is very minimal and I only feel it occasionally.

I think that you may be right about me over hitting the serves. In the beginning I used to arm my serve a lot and I would feel pain after playing but I've changed to a much better serve since (a couple of years ago).

Thanks for your input!

You might want to have a tennis pro watch your game, especially looking at your service motion to see if there is anything you are doing that is mechanically incorrect, or causing trauma on your muscles. You could also video yourself and post it on here and maybe someone qualified could check it out.

Stretch before you play. Along with what the other posters said, it might also be your forehand or something with the racquet. I found that my shoulder problems in tennis were caused by my head-heavy racquet and I do the lasso forehand so that put a lot of pressure on my shoulder and eventually gave me shoulder bursistis which comes back whenever I put too much strain on my shoulder.

It may be that you are straining yourself, you should try and stretch you muscles properly before playing.

I think this article explains your shoulder pain. Hope this helps.

"The repetitive motion required by the serve and overhead can be stressful on the shoulder, which can result in soreness and can lead to a more serious injury such as a torn rotator cuff, says Dr. Plancher. Similarly the elbow and wrist are also at risk. Tennis elbow, which Dr. Plancher explains as an inflammation of the tendon that attaches to the ulna (top part of the elbow), one of the three bones that make up the elbow joint, is a common overuse injury among tennis players, particularly those over 30. Wrist strains are also common."

From: http://tennisbully.com/how-to-guarantee-yourself-tennis-injury/

I think this article explains your shoulder pain. Hope this helps.

"The repetitive motion required by the serve and overhead can be stressful on the shoulder, which can result in soreness and can lead to a more serious injury such as a torn rotator cuff, says Dr. Plancher. Similarly the elbow and wrist are also at risk. Tennis elbow, which Dr. Plancher explains as an inflammation of the tendon that attaches to the ulna (top part of the elbow), one of the three bones that make up the elbow joint, is a common overuse injury among tennis players, particularly those over 30. Wrist strains are also common."

From: http://tennisbully.com/how-to-guarantee-yourself-tennis-injury/

Thanks. That's a good article.

We're at our most injury prone when are are fatigued - A lot of possibilites which have already been mentioned, but sometimes it can be something as simple as just over-compensating in that area when you are tired. As you become more fatigued, you may not be using proper technique anymore (bending your knees etc.), and in an effort to make up for this, there can be an exaggerated emphasis in other areas to still help pull off the shots.

I think this article explains your shoulder pain. Hope this helps.

"The repetitive motion required by the serve and overhead can be stressful on the shoulder, which can result in soreness and can lead to a more serious injury such as a torn rotator cuff, says Dr. Plancher. Similarly the elbow and wrist are also at risk. Tennis elbow, which Dr. Plancher explains as an inflammation of the tendon that attaches to the ulna (top part of the elbow), one of the three bones that make up the elbow joint, is a common overuse injury among tennis players, particularly those over 30. Wrist strains are also common."

From: http://tennisbully.com/how-to-guarantee-yourself-tennis-injury/


Nice. Good for me

Personally I do 5 minutes of exercice before each game, just to warm up. Is there anything you do to avoid arm pain? Special exercices? Therapeutic treatments?

Tennis requires fitness training as well as strength training. That being said, most common cause of injuries at rec tennis level is poor technique. Strength training can mitigate it, but the cause of the pain won't go away. Resting the shoulder is a good idea and then doing some shoulder strengthening exercises will help as well (use resistance bands not weights.). Having someone look at your serve form is not a bad idea either.

Lifting weights helps build strength in your shoulders. That's what my coach told me to do.

Lifting weights helps build strength in your shoulders. That's what my coach told me to do.

Lifting weights does build strength in your shoulders, however tennis requires a good blend of strength and flexibility. Strength and muscle building using heavy weights come at the expense of flexibility of motion. That's why most tennis players esp females (I think the OP is female) don't use weights but resistance bands. The flexibility is more important to the quality of serve than strength. Strength training is more for injury prevention.