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I had to retire from the finals of the Irish Junior National Championship Finals when I was 18. This was a huge deal to me at the time, and it should have been the impetus for some changes in my approach to the care of my body. The reason I had to retire was that for the first time in my young tennis career I experienced a significant injury. The culprit was the lower right side of my back, and it felt like a debilitating injury. I could not even put my socks on the morning of the final, never mind try to run around a tennis court!

Dave Mullins

I rested for a few weeks, took some pills, received physiotherapy, started a stretching routine and incorporated some new strengthening exercises into my gym routine. I then went off to college, and by my senior year my back had packed up again. I ended up sitting out about two months of my senior year, at a time I was playing my best tennis.

I started seeing a chiropractor, invested in orthotics, got some new stretches and routines in the gym to help fix it. I saw some slow improvements, but every few months I would have another episode of this terrible back pain that could keep me sidelined for weeks or months. Each time, it was rest, physio, painkillers, stretching, sleeping on the floor with my head on a phone book! I tried everything.

Once I stopped competing at a high level, I had very few back issues. However, this past year, at age 37, I returned to competitive tennis representing Ireland in the over 35 world championships in South Africa. I started training relatively hard for this event, and sure enough my back problems returned. I stumbled through the event with limited movement and serving ability. I even had to sit out a couple of days letting my team down.