The Great British Summer is a spectacular one. Not in terms of weather and climate but how we make the most of it through iconic events and activities. To us at our busy London Chiropractic clinic the summer means BBQs, BBC Proms in the park, strawberries and cream and Glastonbury. It means getting into parks it means Wimbledon and tennis.
Every June/July the British public takes a huge interest into a very special tournament in SW19. The tennis world takes attention and it inspires so many people to take up a racquet again for the next few months.
Tennis is ‘Ace’ for your body or a bit ‘double fault’?
Excuse the terrible puns but we just had to have a quick go of it. Anyway as always we are fully encouraging of anyone wishing to exercise more and take part in sports. The benefits for you after playing tennis are so great. Not only do you get a bit of exercise but it is also a social game and more often than not played outdoors. However as always it is our duty as leading London chiropractors to caution you about your back, neck and shoulders.
So we are offering some simple advice to take heed of when playing this year;
Start slow – Like with any sport it is not a great idea to start from a low level of fitness and attempt to push yourself too hard. It cause injury and pain to your body, you should instead take it easy and work your fitness up slowly.
Warm up – This would have been ingrained in you from an early age at school yet despite this so many of you will not warm up before exercising. It is very important that you do warm up otherwise you are more likely to damage your body whilst playing tennis.
Listen to your body – It’s no good playing through too much pain. You’re not competing for a big title, you’re just playing socially with friends and if your body is telling you your back hurts, your back hurts. Listen to it and take a break when it does.
Warm down – The warm down is as important as the warm up. Make sure you stretch after your session to be able to wake up the next day pain free and able to move around a bit.
So there you have. 6 simple tips to look after yourself this year when you inevitably get the tennis bug. Here’s to 2 great weeks of Wimbledon and a great summer of tennis action, now time for some strawberries and cream.