Sore knee from forehand technique?

[lhansen]

Hi all,

I was studying the videos from "Your Strokes: Kevin Bryant Forehand" Analyzed by John Yandell, and noticed the upper body rotation to the left, while the left foot stays planted. This appears to result in a "twisting action" on the left knee. I have been having a left knee problem, and the only thing I can attribute this to, is this same action noted in these video clips. Any thoughts on this from anyone?

Also, I especially liked the new video clips and analysis by David Baily on "Contact Moves: The Front Foot Hop". I have been working on this, and when I "hop" with my left foot on a forehand stroke (or kick the right leg back on a higher bounce as noted in previous articles by David), there seems to be much less twisting action on my left knee. It does not stay "planted" during the upper body rotation. Any thoughts? Does anyone know of any other studies on sore left knee for right handed players? Thanks.

Larry Hansen

[johnyandell]

Larry,

No studies that I know of, and it is very hard or impossible to corelate specific injuries to technique.

That said, yeah, you probably don't want to twist too hard against the front foot in a neutral stance. Technically however, that shouldn't be a problem unless you have heavy shoulder rotation, usually associated with an extreme grip. Those guys pull the foot up off the court so facilitate rotation.

Strength training, massage, and stretching. This are basically mandatory past a certain age to just counter the effects of running around on hard courts.

John Yandell