How biomechanical analysis may help to identify abdominal injury causes in high level tennis

This research studies the case of a professional tennis player who has suffered from a medical tear on the left rectus abdominis muscle after a tennis serve. The goal of the study is to understand whether the injury could be explained by an inappropriate technique. For this purpose, we analyzed the three dimensions kinematic and kinetic of the serve. We also performed isokinetic tests of the knees. We compared the player to five other professional players. We observed a possible deficit of energy transfer because of an important anterior pelvis tilt. Some compensations of the player during serve could be a possible higher abdominal contraction and a larger shoulder external rotation. These particularities could induce an abdominal overwork that would explain the first injury and may provoke a new injury.