Dr Alexis Colvin talks sports recovery importance

Welcome to the Mount Sinai Health Beat, a feature with the official medical provider of USTA Eastern, USTA and the US Open. Each month, the Mount Sinai Health System will provide tips to help players stay at the top of their game. Mount Sinai is one of the world’s leading medical institutions, and its experts are uniquely positioned to help athletes from professionals to club players succeed in sports.

In addition to providing on-site clinical care for professionals competing in the US Open, Mount Sinai’s team of medical experts aims to lead the development of policies around injury prevention and to conduct educational outreach to promote the health benefits of tennis.

This month, Alexis Colvin, MD, discusses the proper way to recover from a match.

As tennis players, we tend to focus on training and physical maintenance, but often forget an important part of the physical fitness process: the recovery period. Over-training without proper recovery time can lead to poor performance.

The Sport Science Committee of the United States Tennis Association (USTA) has tackled the job of outlining the importance of recovery after exercise, sponsoring an extensive evidence-based review of all literature related to tennis-specific recovery in their Recovery in Tennis booklet.

“Recovery is often overlooked and under-valued but it is an essential piece of the puzzle,” says Alexis Colvin, MD, Associate Professor of Orthopaedics at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

According to the USTA Sport Science Committee, more than 200 physical and psychological symptoms are connected with overtraining and ineffective recovery.

The major takeaways from the booklet focus on hydration, the psychology of the sport, stretching, and coaching tactics.

“Hydration is so important, not only during the match, but also during recovery,” says Dr. Colvin. Proper nutrition is critical, but especially before, during and after training and/or competition.

Mental aspects of recovery are just as important as the physical ones.

Full Article on USTA Eastern