Muscle activation during the tennis volley

Abstract

In general, muscle activity increased with increasing ball speed. The extensor carpi radialis was more active than the flexor carpi radialis during both forehand and backhand volleys, suggesting the importance of wrist extension/abduction and grip strength. The increase in EMG levels in the forearm muscles shortly before the ball impact indicated that the subjects did not tighten their grip and wrist until moments before ball impact. Both antero-middle and postero-middle deltoids were active in most stroke phases. However, the roles of the deltoid muscles during a volley cannot be determined without knowing the actions of the other shoulder joint muscles.

Higher Expression of Myosin Heavy Chain IIx in Wrist Flexors in Cerebral Palsy

“…Greig and Wells [7] have investigated the muscle activity in the forearm when applying external forces to the hand during a pinch grip in healthy subjects. Both the perceived exertion and the muscle activity, measured as a percentage of maximum voluntary activation, were higher in the wrist extensors compared to the wrist FCR, which could be explained by the fact that the flexors of the lower arm have a larger physiologic cross-sectional area and are thus inherently stronger than the extensors [1,15]. EMG recordings during backhand strokes in tennis have shown similar results [8].…”

“…Second, a flexed wrist position in itself may result in contractures [3], impairing the grip even more. Normally, wrist flexors and wrist extensors work in concert; they both stabilize the wrist during grip [1], but in CP the control of the muscle is impaired because of brain damage. The inherent larger physiologic cross-sectional area (and thus strength) of the wrist flexors compared to wrist extensors [15] will then drive the wrist into flexion.…”

Electromyographic assessment of forearm muscle function in tennis players with and without Lateral Epicondylitis

“…Seven studies looked at different phases of single-handed backhand stroke during EMG (Adelsberg, 1986;Giangarra et al, 1993;Groppel and Nirschl, 1986;9 Hatch et al, 2006;Kelley et al, 1994;Morris et al, 1989;Wei et al, 2006) with two of them also involving forehand strokes (Adelsberg, 1986;Morris et al, 1989). Tennis volley was used in three (Bauer and Murray, 1999;Chow et al, 1999;Chow et al, 2007) and serve in one study (Morris et al, 1989). One study measured EMG with and without various joint counterforce braces (Groppel and Nirschl, 1986) while another study assessed the impact of three different grip sizes (Hatch et al, 190 2006), both during single-handed backhand stroke.…”

“…A total of 216 participants were recruited and tested in these studies including 198 healthy controls and 18 LE patients. Only two studies involved both patient and control groups (Bauer and Murray, 1999;Kelley et al, 1994) and remaining eleven studies recruited only healthy participants (Adelsberg, 1986;Blackwell and Cole, 1994;Chow et al, 1999;Chow et al, 165 2007;Giangarra et al, 1993;Groppel and Nirschl, 1986;Hatch et al, 2006;Morris et al, 1989;Rogowski et al, 2009;Rogowski et al, 2011;Wei et al, 2006). The gender, age (rang or mean), and body demographics (height and weight) were reported in eleven (Adelsberg, 1986;Bauer and Murray, 1999;Blackwell and Cole, 1994;Chow et al, 1999;Chow et al, 2007;Groppel and Nirschl, 1986;Hatch et al, 2006;Kelley et al, 1994;Rogowski et al, 2009;Rogowski et al, 2011;Wei et al, 2006), 170 eight (Bauer and Murray, 1999;Blackwell and Cole, 1994;Chow et al, 1999;Chow et al, 2007;Kelley et al, 1994;Rogowski et al, 2009;Rogowski et al, 2011;Wei et al, 2006), and five studies (Chow et al, 1999;Chow et al, 2007;Rogowski et al, 2009;Rogowski et al, 2011;Wei et al, 2006), respectively.…”

“…The majority of studies (except two) described skill level of tennis players (Blackwell and Cole, 1994;Chow et al, 1999;Chow et al, 2007;Giangarra et al, 1993;Groppel and Nirschl, 1986;Hatch et al, 2006;Kelley et al, 1994;Morris et al, 1989;Rogowski et al, 2009;Rogowski et al, 2011;Wei et al, 2006). The largest and smallest sample sizes were twenty nine (Rogowski et al, 2011) and four (Adelsberg, 1986), respectively.…”