The Great British Summer is here. To us as a busy Staines chiropractor we see a lot of our clients get excited about the summer. To many people it means BBQs, BBC Proms in the park, and  it also means Wimbledon and tennis.

The next few weeks sees a tennis tournament that inspires so many people to take up a racquet over the next few months, and we are happy to see it happen.

Tennis is great for your body, is it?

As always we are fully encouraging of anyone wishing to exercise more, the benefits of playing tennis are great. Not only do you get a bit of exercise but it is also a social game and more often than not played outdoors. However as always it is our duty as a leading Staines chiropractor to warn you about your back, neck and shoulders.

Tennis can take its toll on the body so here is some simple advice for you;

Start slow – Like with any sport it is not a great idea to start from a low level of fitness and attempt to push yourself too hard. It cause injury and pain to your body, you should instead take it easy and work your fitness up slowly.

Warm up – This would have been ingrained in you from an early age at school yet despite this so many of you will not warm up before exercising. It is very important that you do warm up otherwise you are more likely to damage your body whilst playing tennis.

Listen to your body – It’s no good playing through too much pain. You’re not competing for a big title, you’re just playing socially with friends and if your body is telling you your back hurts, your back hurts. Listen to it and take a break when it does.

Warm down – The warm down is as important as the warm up. Make sure you stretch after your session to be able to wake up the next day pain free and able to move around a bit.

So there they are 6 simple tips to look after yourself this year when you inevitably get the tennis bug. Here’s to 2 great weeks of tennis action and some strawberries and cream.