Equipment - Factors in Injuries?

Discussion in 'Badminton Rackets / Equipment' started by Super~ME!, Apr 10, 2005.

  1. Super~ME!

    Super~ME! Regular Member

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    ...hello...just wondering...like the title says...what are some of the ways that equipment can lead to injuries?...injuries can be caused by things such as poor technique, but would there be any other cases where equipment would be responsible for injuries?...like...there's the obvious where bad shoes can cause messed up ankles...and beginners with high tension will mess up their arms...but what are some other places in the body and ways that equipment can cause aches and pains that people might not know about?:confused:
     
  2. SWC_Ant

    SWC_Ant Regular Member

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    rackets can cause head pain, believe it or not. my friend was playing mixed last year, and the girl accidentally struck him over the head with a badminton racket (from in front of him).. he got up and won in the end though :)
     
  3. chickenpoodle

    chickenpoodle Regular Member

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    too high of string and tension combinations can lead to wrist, elbow, or even shoulder pains.

    racquets that are too heavy can cause obvious problems.
    too light of a racquet can cause injuries in the elbow and wrist when the user tries to over-swing.

    grip sizes that are too large or too small can increase chances of wrong grip technique resulting in further arm problems.

    that happened to me. my mx partner clocked me in the forehead while winding up.
    then she proceeded to drive the shuttle straight into the opponent female's cheek.

    needless to say, nobody on the court was impressed. but our friends on the sidelines were sure entertained.
     
    #3 chickenpoodle, Apr 10, 2005
    Last edited: Apr 10, 2005
  4. SWC_Ant

    SWC_Ant Regular Member

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    hahaha that sounds very funny.. =/ sorry to hear of such an accident though...

    as we find out, there are many ways to injure yourself (or your partner/opponent) with various equipment in badminton..

    has anybody seen flying rackets hit anyone? :p
     
  5. pb_aznstyle

    pb_aznstyle Regular Member

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    My doubles partner in school is always bleeding all over his grips cause they're too small... but that may be jsut cause he has dry hands. He's fine witht eh softer thicker grips tho. if the grip is hard and dry his skin will crack at the bottom of the thumb on the inside where i have a callus developed.
     
  6. Jinryu

    Jinryu Regular Member

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    Things like "tennis elbow" can result from improper grip size. Rackets which are stiffer or have highter tension strings can theoretically lead to more joint pains.

    If someone uses braces (knee braces, ankle braces, wrist braces, whatever) people can also start using them as a 'crutch' and use them to substitue for proper rest and healing. Using braces alleviates the symptoms of some conditions, but we gotta understand is that pain is our body's natural signaling method to tell us that something bad is happening-- people who use braces wrong or without proper awareness might be pushing themselves further than they should because they are under the illusion of having perfectly functional joints.

    And i don't know if it counts as equipment strictly speaking, but some people abuse colas on the sidelines--lol.
     
  7. SWC_Ant

    SWC_Ant Regular Member

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    lol!! imagine going for the super game-point kill, then having to burp from the coke and screwing up your shot :p (sorry for being off topic.. couldn't resist)
     
  8. manduki

    manduki Regular Member

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    My friend apparently found a site listing why badminton is a very damerous sport. Stating the obvious, some people got blinded by the shuttlecok hitting them in the eye. But I dont think there are any "bad" badminton equipment that will cause injuries. Some may be straining on a person's body (such as a heavy racket at high tension) but certainly, it wasn't meant to hurt anyone and is never classified as "bad". Most of these injuries seem to result from a lack of research on the part of the owner. Some beginner always seemed to blame his racket for his poor shots often stating "If I had an Armortech"... However, when I mentioned the Muscle Power or Ti, Carbonex, he didnt seem to be able to tell apart the differences...
     
  9. cappy75

    cappy75 Regular Member

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    I would say lighter racquets cause more injuries than heavier racquets due to the stated reason. To certain extent, heavier racquets make it easier to power a shot.

     
  10. Super~ME!

    Super~ME! Regular Member

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    ...aside from grip size and racquet stiffness...what are some other factors that might cause elbow pain?...cause recently at a tournament, my elbow started to hurt...i figured that it was just from overplaying and that it would go away...i let it rest for a few days, but it's still kinda stuck with me and hurts when i do powerful shots like clears and smashes:(

    ...by the way...about the grip size...my hand is about 18cm from the wrist to the top of my middle finger and my grip is about 3 - 3.5cm in diameter...so...3.25cm x 3.14 = 10.2cm...so the circumference of my grip is about 1/2 the length of my hand...people tell me that my grip is a little big and i know it might be...but i don't feel good or secure playing with a smaller grip...and also...a MP55 shouldn't be too stiff for a mediocre player right?
     
  11. napee

    napee Regular Member

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    but i have here a 2U cab20TiPwr BG66 23 lbs that will always cause arm muscle pain when i use it. mostly because of its heavy weight. maybe i'm too used to 3U Ti-10.

    but same goes with my friends who are used to 2U cab21, cab20. they say something related to weight/not enough power. something like that.
     
  12. kwun

    kwun Administrator

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    shoes. improper shoes like wearing running shoes for badminton will easily cause sprained ankles.
     
  13. SWC_Ant

    SWC_Ant Regular Member

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    i dont think its the 2U 3U difference.. because honestly speaking 5 grams of weight isn't a whole lot.. it may feel different, but i dont think it'll cause muscle pain.. it could be something else.

    what is the grip size on your racket? G3/4/5? maybe you wrapped too much overgrip on it.. i'm not sure. i dont think MP55 is too stiff for a mediocre player, because i've been using one since i was a low intermediate player.. and nothing bad has happened :)
     
  14. taneepak

    taneepak Regular Member

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    "Tennis elbow" in badminton is sometimes caused by wrong timing. It is like a judo kick at an opponent, but the kick misfires and lands in empty space! In my many decades of playing badminton I don't ever remember having any elbow pain. Sprained ankles and knees, yes, but elbow pain, I am curious as to find out how it feels. :cool:
     
  15. Super~ME!

    Super~ME! Regular Member

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    ...about the weight differences and the pain thing between 2U and 3U...i'm guessing it's probably the balance of the two different racquets because although 5 grams shouldn't de too noticable, the distribution of the weight would be such as 3U MP99 and 3U AT700. never played with either the Cab or Ti10...but knowing that the Ti10 is pretty head-heavy...perhaps it's the difference in timing and the feel and how familiar you are with the racquets as the balance difference might throw you off a bit and screw you up...eventually leading to pain.

    ...my grip size was originally a G4...but i took off the original grip and built it up with a Yonex towel grip and another relatively thin homemade towel grip...i like the size...but others think it's HUGE!:p
     
  16. napee

    napee Regular Member

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    i'm not surprised myself having problem since the Cab is not long and non-iso. but those who are familiar with cab21 & cab 20? strange.

    so i would say, the cab20TiSp can cause injury as well. :p
     
  17. yc_17

    yc_17 Regular Member

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    Well, from my personal experiences, its not really about the equipment...The equipment plays a small factor in injuries compared to say the number of hours you train/play and warm up. Not warming up sufficiently causes injuries very easily and gives you those sore muscles and joints. So does over training...My friend had her knee busted after training 15 hours a week. "over utilisation" of your body is actually very dangerous....Just my two cents worth..hehe
     
  18. pb_aznstyle

    pb_aznstyle Regular Member

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    I find that if you train alone you can't find your ow mistakes sometimes even tho it may feel like you're doing the right thing. for instance, turning the foot inward when doing footwork for net shots could lead to sprianed ankel in a game whereas i coach can see that you must turn your foot outwards to avoid injury.
     
  19. Jinryu

    Jinryu Regular Member

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    If the tournament is the first time it started hurting, perhaps it was overused... tournaments tend to make us play a little differently from normal, even if we don't notice it-- we're all fired up and just don't notice how much stress we're putting the body though.

    Maybe it just needs more rest than a few days.

    If your elbow problem is an isolated event (just after that tournament only) then perhaps it's only related to how you played at that tournament. If a larger grip feels comfortable for you, then stick with it... you might want to give a chance to trying a smaller grip though, in case there are some advantages you might find you've overlooked, due to the initial discomfort. Try playing a few days with someone elses's racket with a smaller grip and see if you can't get used to it and find some reason to like it. If not, well, no harm done, at least you know for sure-- just don't rule it out due to initial comfort. A lot of people switch equipment (entire rackets) and don't like their new ones at first, but later, when able to harness more of the gear's potential, they find it performs better than their old gear despite the initial discomfort.

    The MP55 was my 'mediocre player' racket, meaning, it was my primary it when i was quite a terrible player. The racket itself is great though, and i really appreciated it later on. As to it being too stiff-- i don't think you need to worry so much from an injury perspective-- i think that usually when people get 'more injuries' or feel more stress due to racket stiffness and string tension, it's mostly cases where the person plays a LOT of badminton where such small difference in shock absorption are compounded over time. I did feel arm strain with the 55, but i don't blame it on the racket, i blame it on the fact that at the time i sometimes played 5 days in a row for a few hours per day. :p When i gave my body better rest, i didn't get as many bad feelings in my joints.

    Everything people have been saying about timing though, i'd have to agree that that's the more prevalent cause of racket related injury, that, and generally stroke technique. It's just that if you have a stiffer racket and higher tension strings, the effect is compounded at a slightly higher multiple-- but i wouldn't worry about chosing a different racket on that basis alone, it's much better (practically and economically) to work on your technique than to buy a flexible racket just because of potential injury concerns.
     
    #19 Jinryu, Apr 12, 2005
    Last edited: Apr 12, 2005
  20. cappy75

    cappy75 Regular Member

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    I actually know of intermediate casuals who insist on using stiff 'top of the line' racquets such as the MP100s. They couldn't play without an elbow brace/strap:rolleyes:.

    The timing issue is so important. I think there's two parts to timing a stroke... timing of the shot and timing of the grip. LJB brought up the timing of the grip in his thread. Check it out.

    When you're playing with a stiff racquet, you're subjected to constant vibrations from the shuttle hitting the stringbeds. Mis-hits would definitely be felt more keenly than spot on hits. Players with no technique would have lots of mis-hits (especially on the frame) that will increase the potential for injury. They will further compound the stress on their racquet arms by constant tensing of their grip, leaving their major joints (elbows and shoulders) to buttress the vibrational shocks rather than absorb them with relaxed hold.

    Lowering the playing tension is one solution. However it's better to pick a flexible racquet if you have little commitment and/or time to improve your game and just wanna play around. With a flexible racquet, the shocks won't affect you as bad.

    As for grip size, it depends on technique and size of the hand. When I changed my technique, my grip size actually decreased as it becomes easier for me to 'time' my grip to the shots I want to make.
     

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