Arm Packing up: Thinking of Switching Arms?

Discussion in 'Injuries' started by kmodak, Oct 3, 2005.

  1. kmodak

    kmodak Regular Member

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    My right arm (playing Arm) is really staring to hurt now a days. Can hardly play for 2-4 days before taking a few days off for work. This stage has been reached after playing for about 4 yrs now.

    A thought struck me a few days back. Can I switch arms. Become a laft handed player. Yes this will mean starting from scratch again but is it a possibility. I used to play footbacll primarily with the right foot. Only a few weeks prictice made my lft foot quite strong. Point being that once you know the game adapting to the other limb is not as difficult as starting from scratch.

    Does anyone have any experience on this. Any examples.
     
  2. terror

    terror Regular Member

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    hm no experience of such pain. but i think i would suggest what many other probably would suggest as well. go see a doctor. maybe its some old injury which u did allow to heal fully before? might also be a good idea to check if u are using the correct techniques?

    4 years sounds an awful long time to be in pain. better do something about it. get better soon:)
     
  3. Phuong

    Phuong Regular Member

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    yes u can switch arm but u'll probably really suck with it for some times and has a lot of injure since ur footwork will mess up big time
     
  4. DinkAlot

    DinkAlot dcbadminton
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    Have you thought about why your arm hurts? Here are a few suggestions:

    1) Grip too small and you are choking the handle, putting undue stress on your arm

    2) swing motion and body rotation not correct

    Best to have a pro check it out. Good luck whatever happens and I pray you make a fully recover. :)
     
  5. manduki

    manduki Regular Member

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    I agree. You've been playing for 4 years and obviously, your right arm is stronger than your left. Switching arms would be a little pointless. Why don't you start your form from scratch with your right arm? The footwork will stay, basic form should stay and most of all your drops/net play should be the same.
     
  6. other

    other Regular Member

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    becuase it's currently hurting i think...

    I would like to take up playing with my left hand one day starting from scratch, and learning the proper techniques.

    also as a way to balance my body:)
     
  7. Aleik

    Aleik Regular Member

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    I know of someone who was of a very respectable standard on the local circuit; she played top division for years, and one year injured her playing arm. She switched arms and made the same grade within a very short space of time. Some people just have the gift. Do you?

    Aleik.
     
  8. kmodak

    kmodak Regular Member

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    Encouraging. Atleast one live example. I will start o practice over the months and try for ambidexterity. Maybe practice with my daughter and wife with left arm. Over time switch.
     
  9. wedgewenis

    wedgewenis Regular Member

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    Yes but how do you know you won't develope the same problem with the other arm :confused: and then you'll be back to square one all over again.


    ... you must be doing something wrong in your swing to have such problems

    see doctor as first
    and when playing try to fix that and you will probly be able to play without pain.
     
  10. NoName1225

    NoName1225 Regular Member

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    do it, switch to the other arm, and then in a match, you can just switch arms back and forth and scare your opponent.
     
  11. volcom

    volcom Regular Member

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    Wow... this is the most drastic case I've seen. Changing arms? Sounds very very difficult to be honest.
     
  12. jhirata

    jhirata Regular Member

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    I think it's possible, I've seen people play with both arms before. He was using two racquets O_O
     
  13. Dreamzz

    Dreamzz Regular Member

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    what an old thread to bring up.
    i wonder if he actually ended up switching arms ... hmmmm, will we ever know?
     
  14. evylgrynn

    evylgrynn Regular Member

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    I had a coach in college who switched arms. He was right handed all his life, (15 years of badminton or so) and he dislocated his shoulder so badly that everytime he tried to play, his shoulder would pop out. So he switched to being a lefty. I think it took him several years, but he did manage to make it to a similar standard to what he was (High-B, Low_A in Alberta), a pretty good standard. It took him a LOT of practice, but it is possible!

    Also you will have to train your legs, from the lunging your right leg will be stronger than your left, so keep that in mind too. As DinkALot said, you should get your right arm checked out first, maybe it would be easier to get that fixed instead of switching.

    Good luck either way!

    EDIT: I didnt realize this was such an old thread...hopefully he posts and tells us what the outcome was!
     
  15. Antiiies

    Antiiies Regular Member

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    Then a friend of mine started to play badminton,he used his wrong hand ,with out knowing it. So now plays that way, no problem at all.
    He's playing national tournament, all over Europe.So i would say that its no problem to change hand, it would take some time but not as long like when you started from scratch.

    Regards
     
  16. Birdwood

    Birdwood Regular Member

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    Is this even legal to play with two rackets in matches?

    I saw someone did this before for fun. Indeed he was scary. But how feasible this would be in competitions? Never saw good players do that.

    Since we all are weaker on our backhand side, switching racket hand and playing both arms seem to have advantages. It will make a person playing forehand on both sides. But it also must come with some disadvantages, like more preparation time to get into position. Anyone know if the advantages outweigh the disadvantages or the other way around?

    I'm thinking about kids learning to play. Since they're weak on backhand side, it would be easy for them to learn playing with both hands. Has anyone tried this approach?
     
    #16 Birdwood, Feb 11, 2008
    Last edited: Feb 11, 2008

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