Hi All, ive had tendinopathy for about 9 weeks now. Due to a combination of badminton and RSI from office work. my physio thinks the office working with a non ergonomic mouse is the root cause of it, and badminton has not helped. Although i have played at a decent standard from a young age (around 13/14 i am now 31) I have good technique having been taught from multiple high level coaches so i don't think i can do anything to my technique to help prevent this. i have been toying with the idea of learning to play from scratch left handed. i think i know the theory i need to start, but its going to be difficult as im going to have to reverse everything and its going to be frustrating dropping to a much lower level initially. Any others who play at around county level ever tried to switch racket hands and been able to achieve a similar level to their original dominant hand? i cant stand not being able to play for much longer @Charlie-SWUK @Cheung
You will never be satisfied and you will always be worse. Take time to get better and exercise on other areas. My physios told me my injuries ( tennis elbow, knee pain, plantar fasciitis) were the result of getting older but also crucially, imbalances in muscles between left and right side. Yeah, even for my elbow, they said it was because of my legs and back muscle imbalances causing the problems. I have to say, once I have been doing more core and balanced muscle work, I haven't really had much in the way of return of problems. It had a much bigger benefit than I thought it would.
I don't think many people have done this; when I've told people what I've done, they've been pretty surprised. Unless you expect this to be a permanent change, I wouldn't recommend it. Seriously, when I switched, it was because of seriously tendonitis (large loss of sensation; poor circulation) caused by hypermobility, and that was then effecting my upper arm/back making it very hard to hit the shuttle high. I absolutely expected my change to be a permanent one. It is a lot of work to change. Now, I don't think you'll always be worse with your left. This is something people told me again and again. By the time I was able to switch back, my left was better than my injured right by a decent margin. However, There are certain skills I absolutely struggled with more with my left. Difficult skills: * Small grip manipulations (you get good at switching from basic -> forehand -> thumb -> bevel, it's the smaller changes that are hard) * Pronation * Fast/reactionary shots (like drives or blocking body smashes) * Body follow through timings Without mincing words, drives/body blocks were very difficult for me to get to grips with; weakest part of my game by a mile. I could still block out to the sides alright, but it's just that lessened reaction. Even then the issue was more specifically in a game; I could actually do these shots fine in drills. However.. You can absolutely learn the footwork, playing all of your basic shots, and get good with it. I think it's a myth that you'll always suffer if you switch. I think the two true places you'll suffer, are reactions and creativity, but in the UK I don't think those preclude you from being a good player. Really you just need consistent shots. This does take mental fortitude. It's not an easy task. I got pretty frustrated with it a few times, but I'd keep myself practicing and mindful. It's much much harder at the start to keep yourself disciplined; you'll likely think "Jeez I should have been able to play that no problem, I could've done it with my right!". You just gotta keep pushing through on it. I would strongly recommend you get a beefy racket too. As I said, hitting those faster reactive shots is hard anyway. A beefy racket will help with your overheads, and will mean that if you even contact the shot it's going back over the net. I absolutely loved the N90 for this; even in the rear court I found fast rackets would make it much harder for me to time. Having a slower, but powerful racket helped a lot. You get a larger 'viable hitting window' provided your feet can keep up. Other bits and pieces: * I did have a substantial amount of professional coaching, even with my left hand * It took me a good 1-2 months for the racket to stop feeling weird in my hand * My first session, I was hitting... 8 or so out of 20 clears. You really do start from square one. * For a long time I actually disliked clearing in games; I found it easier to drop/smash * Sometimes, if I failed a lot in a drill, I would switch back to my right for one set; I would then try to understand what I was doing differently. This is actually pretty effective. It would just let me note what I had done differently. * I can't say if you'll be as good or not, but what I can tell you is you will not be the same player left and right. My shot choice, preference, hell even my racket and string choice, are different on my left to my right. And most importantly If you are well trained, you won't lose anything. I was recently able to start playing with my right again, and I had no difficulty in picking up and playing.
You might want to rest your right hand as much as possible for the next two or three weeks. Use your left hand for everyday task (eg mouse, toothbrush) as much as possible. Minimise the use of your right hand. After two or three weeks of rest, try acupuncture for a few times. After that, use a wrist wrap while playing badminton. Remember to stretch your wrist as maybe recommended by your physiotherapist before and after each session of badminton. Lastly, get a good mouse pad..
This. You can go a long way changing racquet hand with drills..... If you have the time, resources and patience.
Yeah as I said, it's pretty reasonable to learn to play the shots and everything to a reasonable standard. Getting everything very fluid, and getting to a point where you can react very automatically to shots, is a trickier step.
You have to first correct your office desk ergonomics, ie desk/chair height, mouse, etc. Second, where's your wrist pain? Please provide a picture with a marker on it. If you have been properly trained with good technique, you should not be having wrist pain... unless you had fallen on it or injured it doing something else (likely poor ergonomics at work).
I can feel your angst @yippo888, as I to am suffering with something similar, on both hands to boot (due to incorrect typing, mousing, gaming habits). And to make matter worse, it's on my fingers and palm, which made even daily routines and working on a computer a real challenge. What is important is to understand what kind of tendinopathy you're dealing with. Is it Tendonitis (With inflamation) or tendinosis, as they have a very different course of medication and time of recovery. So first things first, stay positive, as things will get better. I've now had this condition (RSI) for well over 16 weeks, and am very slowly recovering. At one point, I was quite depressed, as I can't do things that I love (including badminton), but I learn that getting healthy is always priority No. 1, enjoyment will come afterwards. Now, to the crux of the matter, I feel that learning playing with your left hand could easily lead to a worsening condition of both hands if you're not careful. I would say it will be better to give your body a chance to heal itself, then start playing badminton again. I've found that this website, http://www.rsiwarrior.com/, particularly useful for me, sharing it with you in hope that it will help you too. One thing I learn with this type of injury, is that it's a long process to recover, so take your time. It's not just a matter of office ergonomics, but also correcting bad habits by one's own self. As others have pointed out, in the mean time, you can train other parts of your body, so that when you come back to the court, you're even better than before. Good Luck!!!
