@Cheung I have not done proper stretching regularly. I will do it more seriously. Since I feel pain in my shoulder and elbow, I have just iced the area regularly but I continued to play. FYI I am using Mizuno Fortius 11 Quick, which the company rate the shaft to be "stiff". (This could be one of the factor). @baddiechan The tension can be much for my level. However, my hand can feel the vibration with different strings at 25 since I didn't smash often with less forgiving string setting and I smashed more when the strings loss tension. For the moment, I will try to use two overgrips since I learn from this forum this might help reducing the vibration or just opt for softer feeling strings but with better durability (for my case, not BG66 force and EXB65)
when I spoke to physiotherapists complaining about the injuries , they said even if you were doing the same physical load when younger and had no problems, these injuries will come when you’re older. They said the body is like an elastic band that can be stretched too much. Once it goes past a certain point, it breaks and that point for us is pain in the tendon or a muscle injury. Then doing the proper exercises, weight training for strengthening and balancing your body and the proper stretches will really help. If you can afford it, seeing a sports physiotherapist is very helpful because a good one will also educate you about your body at the same time. After some sessions, and with the new knowledge, you can start going to a regular gym to follow small group classes for training and continue learning to do the exercises properly. Of course you can go to a physical trainer for private sessions if you can still afford it. After regular gym training and when you go back to your badminton, you will feel like you wished you hit the gym more before. The effect really is enormous.
@baddiechan I did train a lot of “whipping crosscourt drive” forehand underhand shot like the magic shot done by Hiroyuki Endo. Maybe this is one of the cause for my golfer’s elbow.
No issues with your smash stroke - just considering the swing, you are doing a lot of them here so it could be overuse triggering elbow pain. I think it's actually your best shot and your backhand is pretty good too. 1:26, 1:50, 12:12, 17:14 - Appears you are swinging in a right to left direction instead of up and forward. Using the horizontal follow through is very defensive and requires rotation to generate enough power. It's awkward and uncomfortable to try it with only your arm. 3:17, 5:30, 17:13 - You finish with a fully locked out elbow and wrist bent back, it's a lot of tension for both joints. 9:56, 12:59 - Wrist bent forward and arm stays on the right side at end of the clear. 8:20 - On the drop shot you force the shuttle down with your wrist . Overall your technique looks alright but there are inconsistencies once in a while, over time this adds up to long-term discomfort. My recommendation is to: 1.Improve that forehand rear clear when you are under pressure, not swinging right to left 2. Keep your elbow loose/relaxed especially for blocks or lifts at the front court 3. Make sure to follow through naturally, finish with racquet towards left side
I did play a lot. Thank you @baddiechan to spend your precious time on watching and commenting. I have to digest some of the information since I never delve into this deep. I also feel some of the shots are off. I tried to imitate some shots from youtube videos such as Watanabe's stop drop, compact smash, Endo's cross court drive clear, jump smash.
Btw, out of topic, so you mean that I should not drive it cross court but lob it instead would be a better strategy?
Ideally yes, the cross court drive from rear court is situational and should not be used unless you are forced to. At 1:26 the shot your opponents makes is not flat or fast enough to resort to a drive return. You could have played it, in your case it was a mishit but even without that it probably wouldn't have been a good quality return. When to use the cross court drive clear: 1. You are late to the shuttle and it is behind your body. This is where part of your body rotation helps get you get additional power. 2. The shuttle is traveling flat so you take it lower than a high clear or lob. This also gives the shuttle forward momentum to make your drive faster. 3. Your opponent has committed too much to the straight return and caught off guard - if this isn't the case then your shot will always be okay but never give you an advantage. High straight clear or a cross drop is a better option assuming you can cover the diagonal.
@Jminton Even if your technique improves, if it helps, it’s only going to be a very slow process to improve your pain. . Why? Because you haven’t sorted out the inherent problems with your body which are imbalance of strength and lack of stretching.
I got it. I am starting to do some stretching and I am thinking of incorporating weight training too. (I used to do it but I did it before playing badminton and the on court performances were not ideal). Thank you for the recommendation.
Thank you for the suggestion. As I said I never really train under a proper coach so I just imitate the techniques (and kept repeating it game when there were chances as I feel this shot is cool) and as you said, I recalled most of the time my opponents (I mainly play doubles) just lightly touched the shuttle to my side and scored the points. Shot selections and observations are my areas to improve.
