INTRODUCTION:
Sports training in various modalities is associated with injuries, especially when presenting large volume and intensity. Few Brazilian studies have investigated the prevalence of injury in tennis players, however, information about the location, type and mechanisms injuries which affect this group of athletes are important for prevention and treatment of such injuries.
OBJECTIVE:
To determine the frequency of lesions reported by amateur tennis players in the city of Rio de Janeiro.
METHODS:
The evaluation was conducted through a structured questionnaire with information about the affected body region, type and mechanism of injury, as well as data on the characteristics of the training. The groups formed, injury and non injury, were compared by Student's t test or Mann-Whitney test, and the chi-squared or Fisher's exact test, using SPSS software (p<0.05).
RESULTS:
Of 159 tennis players (89.3% men, 45.3±11.4 years old; 8.5±6.6 years of tennis practice) which completed the questionnaire, 38.4% reported having been affected by an injury arising from tennis. The most affected regions were: elbow (24.5%), knee (11.3%), and ankle (6.9%). Considering all injuries, tendinitis was the most frequently reported (24.5%), followed by sprain (12.6%) and meniscal injuries (4.4%). Regarding the mechanism of injury, the most prevalent were repetition (25.2%) and changes of direction (15.1%). The injury group presented higher age (48.8±10.1 vs. 43.6±11.8 years), years of tennis practice (10.5±8.5 vs. 7.2± 4.8), and total body mass (86.8±9.8 vs. 81.0±11.0kg).
CONCLUSION:
The prevalence of injuries in amateur tennis players in Rio de Janeiro was 38.4%, being lateral epicondylitis of the elbow the most frequent, due to the repetition of the characteristic motor actions of this sport.
athletic injuries; prevalence; tennis elbow; physical education and training
