Racket sports are such a popular activity across the globe and across our patient base here at Care For Health.
Regularly played and watched by a variety of ages it seems to be one of the sports where anyone can get involved at any level and any age. This month we are going to delve into the physical and psychological benefits of playing racket sports and why you should consider playing.
The most popular racket sport for generations has been tennis, but we also see a lot of keen badminton and squash players and the new kid on the block is Padel tennis. For those who have not played it or heard of it, it combines elements of tennis, badminton and squash, played in an enclosed court with walls. The rackets differ slightly, and the game is usually played in doubles. You can use the surroundings walls to bounce the ball off – and although scoring is similar to tennis the rules do differ. Alongside tennis, badminton and squash, Padel is extremely popular and has amazing benefits both physical and psychological.
Dr Amen, (an American celebrity doctor), claims that those who play racket sports have better brain health and in fact actually live longer. The reasoning behind this is because of the cerebellum, which is the bit at the back of the brain, and makes up 10% of the brain, but amazingly it has over half of the brain’s neurons. The cerebellum, which is also known as the ‘little brain’ has many functions
- The coordination of voluntary muscles. Voluntary muscles are the ones in which you have to tell to move, such as your quadriceps and hamstrings when you run. Or your deltoid and rotator cuff when you return a serve. By receiving signals from the spinal cord and brain the cerebellum will time the movements and contraction of such muscles to perform whatever movement we want it too.
- Balance and maintain good posture. By having control of the muscles around the body, the cerebellum plays a part in our posture. As previously mentioned, it receives signals from our brain and activates the muscles we require to stay up-right and balanced.
- Motor control and learning. The ability for the body to learn new movements and skills through repetition is a result of the cerebellum.
- Cognitive functions (memory, attention, focus and language).
- Eye movements as well as timing and sequencing.
Racket sports require all of the above; for example the coordination of muscles to play a shot or run to the net; being in a good body shape to ensure the best technique to execute the shot you want to play effectively. They help you learn new techniques from coaches, and the repetition of practicing them. Using memory to remember opponent tactics and weaknesses to give you a slight advantage, and of course the ball travels at an immense speed so you need to have strong eye movements to keep up with play.
It’s worth noting that many other sports also train and use the main cerebellum functions to perform, so you may be asking why is it specifically racket sports that help us live longer etc. The answer is because they are all intense, fast paced sports and there is not a moment’s rest throughout games. Whereas if we compare racket sports to football. Football is not as intense for the individual as a player may only touch the ball 50 times in a game, depending on position and playing style of course.
So stimulating the cerebellum in a fun and active way by playing tennis and other racket sports can improve one’s motor skills, balance and coordination, and can indirectly contribute to a longer life span. Other psychological benefits include the endorphin release from exercise, socializing and perhaps even winning, resulting in people being happier in day to day life. You probably do not need us to tell you that the evidence consistently suggests that people who regularly exercise have a greater sense of well being and improved mental health.
Alongside the psychological benefits there are a high number of physical benefits. Unlike above, these probably come to no surprise.
Physical benefits include:
- Cardiovascular workout, increasing your overall fitness. Racket sports are high intensity, especially tennis, squash and padel tennis, with lots of short sprinting movements involved, and the fact that games can last a long time, increases cardiovascular strength.
- Agility…. Agility is the body’s ability to change direction and in racket sports there is constant change of direction and players are required to be on their toes for the most part of the game.
- Speed. By using the fast twitch muscle fibres to sprint to get to your opponents shot you will gradually improve speed.
- Balance and coordination. By paying regularly you will get better coordination and balance, in coherence with your cerebellum of course. Giving you more confidence to play difficult shots within your game. As well as helping you keep performing functional movements, better and for longer.
So now you might be asking yourself, this sounds great, how do I get started?
Racket sports are available to start at any age and level, and there are a number of different ways to get started.
- Join a local tennis club, this gives you the option to have coaching sessions if you are new to the sport, have had a long time off the court or just want to improve. It also gives you the opportunity to play against other club members and join local leagues.
- Play at your local leisure centre. A vast amount of leisure centers give members access to badminton and squash courts and some even have outdoor tennis courts. Within this lies an opportunity to get involved with small clubs and groups as well as leagues and perhaps coaching. You can also hire courts and equipment to play with friends.
- Use the Playtomic app – which matches you up with fellow Padel tennis players based on ability and match history.
Jack Underwood
Sports Therapist