Vibration-Damping technology in tennis racquets: Effects on vibration transfer to the arm, muscle fatigue and tennis performance

Abstract

High vibration transfer from a tennis racquet to the player may cause discomfort, and is hypothesized to influence performance and the onset of muscle fatigue. This study examined a racquet with a novel vibration damping technology (VDT) designed to mitigate frame vibration. Racquet vibration, post-impact vibration transfer to the player, arm electromyographic activity and tennis performance were compared to a non-VDT racquet. Nineteen young adult, competitive tennis players hit forehands and serves until near exhaustion on two days; using one of the two racquets each day. Tri-axial accelerometers mounted to racquet shaft, hand and forearm recorded vibration behaviour. Surface electromyography recorded activity of five arm muscles. In comparison to the non-VDT racquet, the VDT design showed: 1) A significantly lower mean normalised acceleration signal energy at the racquet during unfatigued play (−40%) and at near exhaustion (−34%), which corresponded to a 20-25% lower signal energy at the hand. 2) Reduced signs of arm muscle fatigue at near exhaustion, which was most pronounced in biceps and wrist extensors. 3) Players hit 11% more forehands and placed 40% more hits in the target area at near exhaustion.

Conclusion:

VDT effectively reduces racquet vibration. Initial evidence indicates that it may delay muscle fatigue, which was associated with increased ball placement accuracy.

Keywords

Acceleration / Biomechanics / Electromyography / Human / Kinematics

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We sincerely thank the coaches and players of the University of Minnesota varsity tennis team for participating in this study. We greatly appreciate the assistance of former and current members of Human Sensorimotor Control Laboratory Dr. Yu-ting Tseng, Dr. Jessica Holst-Wolf, and Allison Giddings during data collection and analysis. We further thank Eloisa Compostizo from the Wilson Sporting Goods company for her assistance in collecting the experimental modal analysis data.