Hi, My game having improved over the last year but still lacking some power in smash, I was considering swapping my Forza Medium shaft head light for an Amortec 500 (Light head heavy). I tried the A500 for a couple of hours and I seem to have some pain in the elbow nothing muscular though. Playing wise it was very good. I just don't know if it goes from the stiffness of the A500 or the fact that it was head heavy. You guys have any clue ? Any other suggestion for an improved (more attack minded) over my forza (asia 40000) ? Many thx
was the at500 strung tighter than your own racket? I'd say try it some more, and try some other rackets...make sure you're completly comfortable with your racket! Don't buy somethign that gives you elbow pains (? tennis elbow?)
Was it a different grip size? Both too big and too small a grip (but particularly the latter) can cause elbow pain as you will over-grip.
I have the AT 500 it's a nice racquet the only pain I get is my forearm because I have a really firm grip and my playing motion has become very wristy. I get the same pain with other racquet's too. I don't think the Yonex stiff is too stiff, you need to have a go with my Wilson V4 now that's quite stiff. The AT 500 has some flex in it for smash power.
Having pain with a racquet switch is unusual unless the racquet is much heavier or the tension is very different. You may want to check your grip technique or perhaps you have soem residual tennis elbow or something that you simply don't notice as much with your old racquet as you aren't paying as close attention to how your arm feels (since with a new racquet you usually are very attentive to how you feel using it, initially anyway).
Ditto to westwood. I tried switching from a Woven-8 to a Woven-11 and that gave me elbow pains. It might be tennis elbow because of the new added stress from the racket. It might also just be vibrations from the racket causing your elbow to take on more damage. Then agian, you might swing like I do and lack body movement in coordination with the swing which causes unneeded stress on the elbow, which is amplified with a heavier racket.
same here hi i just bought my at500 for a month and after using it i have a sharp pain on my outer elbow joint.. i found this thread because i was also looking for reasons y im having pain..
it could be a caused by the string + tension combined with the stiff shaft of the AT500. (correct me if im wrong) Tighter, thinner strings are harder on impact and the stiff shaft transfers the impact vibrations back to your arm. If your older racquet was strung at lower tension and/or had a more flexible shaft, you would feel less of the vibrations. lol, i hope it helped
AT500 is also pretty poor at absorbing vibrations, so you should add some overgrips on it. I've had the AT500, and I lent it to my dad once, and he complained of vibration. This could be what's hurting your arm. After I overgripped mine twice (it was G5 before), I felt no vibration at all. Unfortunately, my AT500 is now broken, and has been replaced by an AT700...
Hi, it's strange that nobody mentioned the weight as a possible factor for injury. And I'm talking about the racquet being too light - I think there are two (or more) kinds if injuries: a) one, when your strokes are not correct and you "hit the air" or when you are playing with too heavy racquet (pain in the shoulders for example) and b) second, where injury comes from constant shock (on joints for example) which is caused by impact shuttle-racquet. I don't know for badminton but in tennis, head heavy and light racquets are the main reason for tenis elbow. See this: Shock loading of the racquet results from a sudden change in the racquet's kinetic energy on impact, which produces an internal energy load on the racquet, which is expressed as frame vibration. Shock also determines Shoulder Crunch , Elbow Crunch, and Wrist Crunch (see formula for Shock, see derivation of formula for Shock). This change in kinetic energy is how much the racquet slows down when it slams into the ball, while kinetic energy is converted into internal or potential energy. Shock is measured in joules (the same metric unit as work, heat and energy)... ...If the frame is stiff and light, the frame bending energy will not be absorbed by the material of the frame but will but will have to be dumped into the arm holding on to the racquet. Don't place any reliance on string buttons to save your arm... ...What you don't want if you are concerned about the risk of tennis elbow is a stiff, high-Torque, high-Moment, high-Shock racquet. That means a light, head-heavy racquet. From http://www.racquetresearch.com/ If I saw correct, your AT 500 is light and it is also head heavy and stiff, so has everything set for elbow pain But don't understand me wrong, the racquet I think is excellent and I'm looking forward to buy it soon. But for the reason above I will choose 3U I think.
I find the feel of 3Us are more solid, as 4U is too light, and doesn't feel like it's heavy enough to power a solid stroke.
jurethatsme, thats a really interesting article you found *are you a physicist??* but i think it might be more tennis specific due to the difference in technique and racquet design. I think the tennis racquet is much more rigid than a badminton racquet so alot more of the energy is transfered. The AT500 is also not exactly "light" its close to 105g for a 3u racquet. Compared to a Ti-10 which is more head heave and surprisingly lighter - at 95g - the biggest factor of vibration transfer i noticed was string. Bg 80s and 65tis seemed to do a good job at absorbing impact.
Thank you JonYKN. I'm a microbiologist and sometimes interested in physics It's true that the article is more tennis oriented but some facts I think can be translated to badminton also. You said that tennis racquet is more rigid, it's true but it is also much heavier (yes, the ball is also) so it also absorb more shock. And you have dampeners on strings in contrast to badminton... And I think BadGone talked about the light AT 500 which I understood it was a 4U. I don't know how much shock do we absorb in badminton, do we have some thread about such injuries here? I didn't see nothing like it. One good poll would be very useful (like Which injury have you suffered form - a) elbow, b) wrist, c) forearm d) shoulder e) back f) eyes!!!...) - administrator, do you agree?
LOL eye injuries an interesting thing that i found was the vibration dampers for tennis strings. andre agassi used a rubber band *i think this was discussed before* tied around his 4 main strings. I have actually tried this on the racquet that i felt gave me the most pain *cab8200 light w/ bg65 @ 25lbs* every time i mishit with the racquet, it would send shockwaves up my arm lol but since i tried the rubber band thing, the hits have been slightly less painful. I dont know if its a mental thing because i only tied it around 8 mains near the t-joint, but its worth a try
I think dampener helps, but don't know why they are not popular in badminton - probably because shock is not so big. Agassi had that dampener because it's light and does not change the balance of the racquet too much (in tennis, more head light, better). And about eye injury - it's not maybe so frequent BUT are deffenitely the most dangerous! Especially in doubles - watch out when receiving smashes, specially when your partner lift instead of drop or smash and you rush to the net (there is a thread about this also)!
well, i just found an article here < http://www.a2mediagroup.com/?c=126&a=16222 > that says that dampeners dont do anything besides changing the sound of the stringbed... well, yeah, the eye injury really is a serious problem...actually, i think that eyewear is going to be mandatory for all doubles players in competitions soon in Canada. I've never been hit, but i have seen it happen.
Who knows, maybe is true and it is really just a commercial trick... But if it's no harm I will probably still use... and have better sound. It's something.
