Anatomy Cervical Spine and Tennis

by Hilary Rogers
(South Africa)

Anatomy Cervical Spine

I played lady's club tennis for many years and although I felt fitter on one level I experienced the hardship on my back and body balance.

I know tennis players give a lot of time to the work out before playing, to prevent injury. But surely the most important thing is HOW we do these exercises and not how much or how hard?

The spiral movements of the game put a lot of tension on the back and the alignment of the spine is surely fundamental to the health of the body. A back is not staight and would be a very vulnerable part of the body if it were.

Any skeletal diagram shows us the anatomy cervical spine ...7 cervical vertebrae,curving outward slightly. The twelve thoracic vertebrae curve inwards and the five lumbar vertebrae curve outwards again to balance the anatomy cervical spine at the top.

Then the sacrum supports all this. But the idea of what we think is a 'straight' back might be the very cause of discomfort that we might feel from the exertions of the tennis game.