I just came back from the most frustrating day of badminton that I have ever played in my life, and I noticed one thing...I couldn't pronate my arm, or use my wrist at all today. Net kills went out (used all shoulder for some reason) and my clears/smashes were all shoulder as well. Smashes suffered immensely and i re-aggravated my shoulder impingement. All of this brings up my question: Have you guys ever had a day where it felt like, no matter what you did, you couldn't get your wrist to snap, or you couldn't get proper pronation of your forearm? How did you guys remedy this? I just came back to playing badminton after fighting off shoulder and knee injuries for the last year, so I expected myself to be rusty, but this was just insane.
Happens to me too. Especially when using my head heavy or higher swing wt rackets. Also if I had done some shadow strokes with the racket cover on the day before I play.
I can relate to your injuries as I too have a shoulder injury for many years and as well as knee problems. I do what Visor does, I always practice a few strokes the days before I get back on court. I also make sure I watch badminton videos to get my mind back into playing as I also play other sports such as tennis and table tennis. I find watching badminton videos really help you get back into the badminton frame of mind. If you've been off for a while, you should start slow. I personally would recommend a headheavy racquet to smooth out the inconsistencies in your stroke until you're back into the "swing" of things - excuse the pun! I often recommend novices do this too, which helps them develop the correct stroke technique before moving onto headlighter racquets. One common mistake is to over do it, e.g. to think you can smash as hard as you could before your "badminton holiday" or to lunge/stretching too much etc. You probably could do it, but you would risk injuring yourself. It needs to be done gradually, so your body slowly gets back into it. When I had my 7yr break from badminton, I watched a video of me playing on my return and was surprised to see that my technique is different to how it once was, even though during play, I thought I was still executing my strokes/footwork in the same way as I once did only slower... dissappointing to see, but goes to show that the body may not be doing what the brain thinks! My advice would be to take it slowly, don't worry about losing. Video yourself playing and see where you need to improve.
Thanks a lot R20190! I think I pushed myself too hard yesterday as my shoulder is now in a bit of pain again. I'll go back to using my more headheavy rackets and follow your advice.
Are you warming up properly before a session? I used to have the same issue as you until I decided to turn up atleast 15 minutes before I usually do and warmup my arm wrist properly, aswell as doing proper stretches for the forearm an fingers. Then doing some strong clears emphasising my wrist in my head. That solved the inconsistency for me.
To avoid overusing your shoulder and to encourage using your wrist/forearm, several things you need to do. One, not only stretch your arm before playing but also loosen up the muscles by loosely shaking it. Two, badminton is not about pounding but really about whipping into the bird. So make sure your power strokes like smashes and clears always start with the elbow leading. This will get your arm into the whipping motion with proper pronation. Third, think speed, not power. Your forearm has to be loose and fast, not tight and powerful as in tennis.
don't be too hard on yourself, it even takes time to get back into shape when a player is taking a break as little as 2 weeks, so if you have had injuries, it's only understandable. plus, maybe that last time was just a really off day for you so just be a bit patient and you'll get your skillz back in no time!!! on a side note, it doesn't happen to me because everyday something is off for me, so yea....
Now that I've calmed down a bit (nearly 24 hours later =P), I really was very tense yesterday. Didn't focus enough on relaxing and tried to force every shot out. Well, we all have bad days =P. I'm going to home and put lead tape on my PPP to make an easy to use overhead, mid flex racket
hi.. try to wear support on your arm and kness that would be a big help to avoid any injuries when you are playing... I can relate then because last year I've been in theraphy session because of my ankle, me and my partner we're having a practicce for the upcoming local tournament then I got badly sprained my ankle, it accidentally twist a bit.... and thank GOD im now good and back again in playing... however i do need to put support as per advise. You need to take care of yourself...badminton is a nice game but if you have case like your experiencing something not normal on yourself.. you can still play but dont be too hard for yourself... anyway, Thanks!!!
If that's the Panda Power Precision Pro, be careful as the paint doesn't have clear coat and will come off with strong adhesive backing like those on lead tapes. I know as I have 2.
Haha, it's a great racket, but a bit too light for me. And as for the lack of clear coat, I'm all too painfully aware of that from previous experiments with lead tape
Stretching can be dangerous , if you stretch before playing badminton , you might tend to injured yourself more easily , you can try to do some "movement warm up" after streching and start to play at a slow pace first, then when you feel you are ready , you can play with full strength.
warm up every single part of ur body! sometimes when ur arm are ready ur wrist just didnt! do some dynamic warming up instead of the stretching.However cases like yours do happened,sometimes you just have to calm urself down and re-suit urself to play smartly with what ur body can cope with/produce! it doesnt feel good all the time,u might be playing so well today but tomorrow u tend to play like u been stopping badminton for several years! like i said,calm down and cope with ur body,not what u think it should be! hope that helps!
[FONT=HelveticaNeue-condensed, sans-serif]Visor is right about leading your swing with your elbow. If you're not doing this, then your will wreck your shoulder fast. Leading with elbow is also correct form. As for your wrist and forearm, sounds like you are rotating your wrist back to front instead of side to side. Think about it like turning a door knob or turning the key in the ignition.[/FONT]
What a load of rubbish. You won't find a sports science academic anywhere that says stretching is dangerous. Absurd.
I'm assuming he means stretching cold muscles can cause injuries which of course is correct. Do mobility work first, then a brief warmup to get blood flowing and then stretch. Before you question my credentials, I'm a level 4 strength and conditioning coach, GP referral instructor, I used to manage a decent sized gym and 4 sports nutrition stores and before taking up badminton I was a multi time national powerlifting champion. I'm also a youth football leader. I'm sure that should be enough for you to take my comment seriously surely?
I agree DB. Stretching whilst cold is dangerous. Within any warm up routine there is always the first element which is raising the heart rate to warm up the muscles. Paul www.badminton-coach.co.uk
you're probably like 20 years behind with your opinion. scientific findings concerning stretching are mixed. stretching before activities like badminton is at least ambiguous...
