Shannon Clinic is Melbourne’s most credentialed tennis injury clinic. Led by Dr. Nicholas Shannon — one of Australia’s leading sports and exercise medicine chiropractors, 9-year chiropractic provider at the Australian Open, and published researcher in elite tennis injury, we provide expert assessment and rehabilitation for tennis injuries at every level of the game, from club players to touring professionals.
Whether you’re dealing with a sore shoulder that’s affecting your serve, an elbow that won’t settle, persistent low back pain on court, or an ankle you’ve rolled during a match, Dr. Shannon has the qualifications, clinical experience, and research background to give you an accurate diagnosis and a rehabilitation plan built around getting you back on court properly.
Our clinic is located at Suite 9.16, 220 Collins Street, Melbourne VIC 3000.
Book a Tennis Injury Assessment | Call (03) 9041 9783
Tennis in Melbourne — A City Built for the Sport
Melbourne is one of the world’s great tennis cities. It hosts the Australian Open — the first Grand Slam of the calendar year — and has a year-round playing culture driven by excellent public courts, strong club networks, and a warm climate that keeps players active from January to December. Tennis participation in Australia has grown steadily in recent years, driven in part by the success of local players and the global popularity of the sport following Netflix’s Break Point documentary.
With that growth comes a parallel rise in tennis-related injuries, particularly in recreational players who increase playing frequency without corresponding increases in conditioning, recovery, or equipment review. Shannon Clinic sees this pattern regularly and is positioned to serve Melbourne’s tennis community from beginners through to Australian Open competitors.
Why Shannon Clinic is Melbourne’s Leading Tennis Injury Clinic
There is a significant difference between a general sports chiropractor who treats tennis players, and a clinician whose is closing in on a decade of their professional life in the sport. Dr. Shannon sits firmly in the latter category.
Australian Open — nearly a decade on court
Dr. Shannon has worked as a chiropractic provider at the Australian Open for nearly a decade, working alongside the world’s leading sports medicine teams to assess and manage injuries in professional players at the highest level of the game. The demands of a Grand Slam with back-to-back matches, compressed turnaround times, high-load serving expose injuries that recreational players develop slowly over months or years. That depth of court-side experience is something no textbook can replicate.
Published research in elite tennis injury
Dr. Shannon is the lead author of “Common and Less Well-Known Upper Limb Injuries in Elite Tennis Players”, published in the American College of Sports Medicine’s Current Sports Medicine Reports (October 2020). This pape was co-authored with Dr. Timothy Wood, Dr. John Kelly IV, and Dr. Brian Cable and reviewed injury data exclusively from elite male and female players drawn from the US Open, Australian Open, Wimbledon, Davis Cup, ATP, and WTA. It identified not only the common upper limb injuries seen in elite players, but highlighted less well-known injuries rarely reported in the literature including posterior shoulder instability, medial elbow ulnar collateral injuries, distal humeral bone stress injuries, and nondominant wrist ulnar ligament injuries.
👉 Read Dr. Shannon’s overview of the elite tennis injury paper.
Co-author of the tennis injury prevention ebook
In 2025, Dr. Shannon co-authored “Injury Prevention in Tennis: A Comprehensive Guide” with WTA Pro Tour coach Carlos Martinez — whose wife, Nicole Melichar-Martinez, is a top-10 professional doubles player. The ebook draws on 18 years of Dr. Shannon’s clinical and courtside experience, peer-reviewed literature, and contributions from sports medicine physicians, physiotherapists, sleep specialists, sports dietitians, and coaches. It is available on Amazon.
👉 Read about the tennis injury prevention ebook.
Shoulder injury research
Dr. Shannon has also co-authored research on shoulder injuries with sports orthopaedic surgeon and director of throwing medicine at University of Pennsylvania, Dr. John Kelly IV. Specifically relevant given the shoulder’s vulnerability in the tennis serve and overhead game. This published work underpins the clinical approach taken at Shannon Clinic with every tennis shoulder presentation.
Training load expertise
Workload management is one of the most underappreciated drivers of tennis injury, particularly in junior players and those returning from injury. A 2020 study applying the acute:chronic workload ratio to junior tennis players found that players with a ratio exceeding 1.5 in the previous week had significantly elevated injury risk. Dr. Shannon’s training load monitoring service directly addresses this — helping players, parents, and coaches identify and manage loading risk before it becomes a clinical problem.
👉 Learn more about training load monitoring.
At Shannon Clinic – Melbourne Chiropractic and Sports Care, we specialize in the prevention and treatment of tennis-related injuries, leveraging extensive experience with elite athletes to provide comprehensive care.
Common Tennis Injuries We Assess and Treat in Melbourne
Tennis places repetitive, high-force demands across the entire kinetic chain, from the foot pushing off the court to the wrist snapping through a serve. As a result, injuries can occur at virtually any level of the body. The following are the most common presentations we see at our Melbourne CBD tennis injury clinic.
Shoulder injuries — the most complex tennis complaint
The shoulder is a commonly injury-prone joint in tennis, often driven by the high loading forces it undergoes during the serve motion. Repeated exposure to these forces, often combined with glenohumeral internal rotation deficit (GIRD), scapular dyskinesis, or kinetic chain breakdown, creates the conditions for a range of shoulder pathologies.
- Rotator cuff tendinopathy and partial tears (supraspinatus, infraspinatus, subscapularis)
- Subacromial impingement and bursitis
- Posterior shoulder instability — a less-recognised but significant injury in overhead athletes, highlighted in Dr. Shannon’s published research
- Superior labral (SLAP) lesions
- Acromioclavicular joint (ACJ) pain and injury
- Scapular dyskinesis and shoulder blade control deficits
👉 As a tennis player in Melbourne, you’ve probably felt that dreaded niggle in your shoulder.
Tennis elbow (lateral elbow tendinopathy)
Despite its name, tennis elbow, which is more accurately termed lateral elbow tendinopathy (LET) — is actually rarely seen in elite tennis players and more common in recreational players and office workers. It involves pain and dysfunction at the outer elbow, primarily affecting the extensor carpi radialis brevis tendon, brought on by repetitive loading of the wrist extensors.
As Dr. Shannon has written in the Australian Chiropractic Magazine, the term ‘epicondylitis’ is outdated — inflammation is not the primary driver of tendon pain, and treatment that targets inflammation alone consistently underperforms. Modern management of LET focuses on load management, progressive tendon loading, technique correction, and equipment review (grip size, string tension, and racquet stiffness all play a role).
👉 Read Dr. Shannon’s article: Tennis Elbow (Lateral Epicondylitis): Causes, Symptoms & Treatments.
Wrist injuries
The wrist absorbs significant shock during ball impact and is loaded across a range of positions during groundstrokes, serves, and volleys. Common wrist presentations in tennis players include:
- Triangular fibrocartilage complex (TFCC) tears
- Extensor carpi ulnaris (ECU) tendinopathy, instability and tears
- Wrist sprain and ligament injuries
Low back pain in tennis
Low back pain is among the most common complaints in tennis players at all levels, driven by the combined demands of trunk rotation, lateral movement, lumbar extension in the serve, and the cumulative load of a long season. Presentations range from acute muscle strain to disc-related pain, lumbar stress fractures (particularly in younger players), and chronic non-specific low back pain linked to movement dysfunction and loading errors.
👉 For a deeper dive into low back pain in tennis, read a Melbourne city sports chiropractors insights
Knee injuries
Quick lateral movement, hard stops, and lunging place the knee under significant stress. Common presentations include:
- Patellar tendinopathy (‘jumper’s knee’) from repeated pushing and lunging
- Patellofemoral pain syndrome (runner’s knee) — pain around the kneecap during court movement
- Meniscal injuries from twisting on a planted foot
- ACL injuries from rapid direction changes and hard pivots
- ITB syndrome in players who also run or cycle
Ankle injuries
Ankle sprains are among the most common acute injuries in tennis — particularly lateral ankle sprains from rapid sideways movement. Improper footwear for the playing surface and inadequately rehabilitated ankle sprains are some of the more common causes of recurrent injury and chronic ankle instability in active patients. Shannon Clinic provides thorough ankle assessment and a structured graded return-to-sport program.
Achilles tendon injuries
Push-off mechanics during the serve and baseline movement place repetitive demand on the Achilles tendon. Achilles tendinopathy is a condition we see frequently in recreational players, particularly those who have increased their playing load rapidly.
Our Assessment Approach — Understanding the Whole Player
The Shannon Clinic approach to tennis injury assessment reflects Dr. Shannon’s training at the intersection of sports chiropractic, sports and exercise medicine, and published clinical research. Our assessment is not simply about identifying the painful structure — it’s about understanding why it became injured and what needs to change for it not to happen again.
Every assessment begins with understanding contributing factors:
- Playing load — volume of court time, training intensity, tournament schedule, and week-to-week load changes
- Technique — serve mechanics, groundstroke patterns, and footwork that may be creating excessive loading at the injury site
- Equipment — racquet grip size, string type, string tension, and court surface compatibility with footwear
- Physical capacity — strength, mobility, and movement deficits in the kinetic chain
- Recovery — sleep quality, nutrition, hydration, and inter-session recovery practices
We then assess:
- The injury site using clinical orthopaedic and neurological testing
- The kinetic chain to identify any upstream or downstream weaknesses and/or imbalances
- Whether diagnostic imaging is warranted, and if so, referral is arranged through our established imaging networks, in addition to the in office portable diagnostic ultrasound Dr. Shannon utilizes for realtime assessment.
- Whether the presentation warrants co-management with a sports medicine physician, orthopaedic surgeon, or other specialist, our professional networks include all relevant disciplines
From assessment, we develop:
- An accurate working diagnosis
- A treatment and rehabilitation program targeted at the underlying drivers, not just the symptoms
- A load management plan to keep you playing where possible, or a structured return-to-court timeline where rest is required
- Education on why the injury occurred and what needs to change to prevent recurrence
Treatment and Rehabilitation at Shannon Clinic
Treatment at Shannon Clinic is evidence-based, targeted, and rehabilitation-focused. We do not believe in passive, indefinite treatment. Our goal is to restore your capacity to perform on court as quickly and safely as possible and to leave you with the knowledge and physical tools to stay there.
👉 Learn more about our chiropractic and remedial massage service
Tennis Injury Prevention in Melbourne
The most impactful thing any tennis player, parent, or coach can do is invest in injury prevention before a problem develops not after it sidelines a player for weeks or months.
The ebook: Injury Prevention in Tennis — A Comprehensive Guide
Dr. Shannon and WTA coach Carlos Martinez spent 18 months developing a comprehensive injury prevention resource that covers the breadth of what recreational and elite players need to understand — from training load management and sleep, to technique, nutrition, court surface selection, and the specific injury risks at each stage of a player’s development.
The ebook is available on Amazon and is suitable for players of all levels, their parents, and their coaches.
👉 Read about the ebook and how it came together.
Player and coach consultations
For players and coaches who want personalised guidance — whether for injury assessment and management, technique-based load analysis, return-to-sport planning, or preparing for a tournament season — Dr. Shannon and Coach Carlos offer direct consultation services. These are available in person at the Melbourne CBD clinic or remotely.
Book a Tennis Injury Assessment in Melbourne CBD
If you’re dealing with a tennis injury or want to prevent one, the Shannon Clinic is Melbourne’s most qualified and experienced tennis injury clinic. Our Collins Street practice is located in the heart of the CBD, accessible by tram, train, and car.