Question
What type of return to play progression would you recommend for non-pitching athletes like tennis players?
Answer
Truthfully the timelines are going to be similar. There is an article on Interval Sport Programs which I believe was in JOSPT [Reinold, M.M., Wilk, K.E., Reed, Jamie, Crenshaw, K, Andrews, J.R. (2002). Interval Sport Programs: Guidelines for Baseball, Tennis, and Golf. J Ortho Sports Ther, 32(6), 293-298] Golf was included as well as tennis and baseball, and it gave some of the guidelines that I talked about. The thought process is similar. Lets talk about tennis specifically. Before your client starts serving at 100%, you will have them hitting groundstrokes off of a wall. Then you will move to hitting groundstrokes with someone hitting it back so that now they are integrating moving side to side on the court. Then you will have them start to work on serves, not in live play, but in practice. That would be where you start at 50% of effort, then 75%, and then 100%. You would then start to progress from there. The same thought process can be applied to most groups where you consider what the baseline requirements are for the activity and how it can be broken down to create a controlled environment that allows the client to be successful before they progress to full dynamic activity. Obviously with a tennis match, you are adding in the strategy and the components of another athlete versus just the nuts and bolts of the activity.
