Hello fellow BCers I am a relatively young badminton player, both in age (20+) and years playing badminton (4 years). Recently I have noticed some discomfort, pain at times around my lower back and both of my knees. Understanding that this may be caused by my increased times of playing per week (from 2 to 3 times) and my increased aggressiveness in playing, I am looking for ways to support my lower back or knees by using kinesiology tape and see whether it goes away gradually, then decide my next step. I'm currently looking at KT tape from "http://www.kttape.com/" and would very much like anyone who has tried any kind of good kinesiology tape to recommend me an alternative. or better still, anyone that experienced same thing as mine to recommend some exercise that can help me lessen this discomfort. If it helps, I have wide feet and is currently wearing Victor SH9000ACE.
you might want to try warm up and warm down exercises and looking at techniques, footwork, balance as things to improve first
9000ace has one of the least cushioning of all the badminton shoes i've tried, so make sure you're wearing good technical socks with thick bottom cushioning, or put in a thicker insole especially important if you're playing on any hard floors like cement or hardwood floor
Yeap, I am working my footwork now, I think the discomfort at my knees is caused by my bad landing at times. Specifically, the pain is from the back of my knee rather than the knee itself, think that might be cause for something else ? and another thing, do you think its wise for me to resort into using KT Tape in the mean time ? Yeah I am wearing a good thick Victor socks as well. the insole I am using is the stock one, I did't get to change it. About the floor I think that is okay for me, I almost only play on rubber surface, very rarely on hardwood floor.
Do you do any stretching exercises? If so, which ones. A good stretch routine will take 15 minutes or more. You may need better stretch routine than others.
I don't really know their name, so I'm just gonna refer from this picture. Latissimus Dorsi and Posterior Deltoid Stretch, Triceps Stretch, Lateral Flexion Stretch, and some back stretching exercise. Could you recommend a better stretch routine ? EDIT: I realize the picture is too small, here goes the link "http://i.imgur.com/WXqw3g3.jpg"
You can do all those exercises and more. You might want to ask around your friends their particular favourites. I don't have an easy reference at hand.
At your relatively young age playing only a handful hours a week, you shouldn't be having these pains. Best to have a coach or advanced player have a look at your footwork like lunging and landing.
Okay, thanks for all the advice. I'll definitely try to increase my time spent on warming up. I'll also go for training after few weeks when everything is in place. So in the mean time I think I'll use some of those kinesiology tape on my knee as sometimes when I stand up from crouching, it hurts.
Kinesiology tape is not the solution- it is just a temporary salve to your problems, and it may not even afford you the relief you are seeking. Also, please remember that application of the tape itself must be done in a specific and correct way that will address your problems. On the contrary, incorrect application may obtain undesirable results. All of the above hints and advice is very good. May I add- consider more core exercise and building core strength, and walking lunges.
I've been playing for a couple years and only started feeling lower back pain recently. I bought a foam roller to do various back, glute, and hip flexor stretches and I believe it has helped. In addition I've used Rock Tape which is just another brand of Kinesiology Tape along with icing my lower back after a playing session and popping some ibuprofen. All of this seems like a viable solution to dealing or minimizing the pain but I wanted to find the root cause. I spoke with a coach who watched me hit clears and with his better trained eye he was able to see that I was trying to generate more power by arching my back backwards and then sort of thrusting it in a forward motion as I hit the shuttle. Somewhere along the line my technique had changed as I was no longer using as much body rotation to generate power during my stroke. I hope you are able to find a solution to your injuries. I will say though that in my limited experience with having lower back pain and also I only used Rock Tape once, the tape itself didn't "fix" the problem. In fact I don't quite know if it helped at all.
I see, thanks for the advice. Could you recommend me some workout that is able to improve my core strength and is more relative to badminton ? Thanks, would definitely try that out as well, except the ibuprofen part :x I think that step is still not needed for now. I would definitely seek help from any professional I can get my hand on, I think my techniques of generating powers for my clears and smashing posture is not entirely correct.
