Quick Overview
A Zurich team tested electrostimulation on twelve competitive tennis players.
They ran nine short EMS sessions on the quadriceps across three weeks.
Scientists recorded rising current, evoked force from 200 N to 800 N, and 100 percent attendance. Maximum strength climbed through week six. Countermovement jump height rose 5.3 percent then 6.4 percent. The 2 × 10 m shuttle sprint got 3.3 percent faster three weeks later. Stretch-shortening also improved.
The work came from Schulthess Clinic, the University of Burgundy and an Italian academy.
It appeared in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research.
These measured gains show targeted EMS can lift tennis power and speed inside normal practice. The full post gives every figure, timeline and practical takeaway.
We always provide direct links to the original research at the end of every article so you can review the evidence yourself.
Quadriceps EMS Lifted On-Court Power In Competitive Tennis Players
A Swiss-led team tested electrostimulation on competitive players.
They wanted to see if short EMS sessions could fit into busy tennis practice.
The work came from the Neuromuscular Research Laboratory at Schulthess Clinic in Zurich.
Partners included the University of Burgundy in France and a tennis academy in Italy.
The paper ran in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research in 2009.
That journal is published by the National Strength and Conditioning Association.
Twelve well-trained players joined the trial. Five were men. Seven were women.
Their average age was 23. They already competed at regional and national level.
None had used EMS strength training before.
They completed nine sessions across three weeks. That meant three sessions each week.
Each block lasted about 16 minutes and sat inside normal tennis training.
Players sat on a leg-extension machine. Electrodes went on the quadriceps.
The unit delivered 85 Hz pulses for four seconds, then a 25-second rest.
Subjects raised the current themselves, session after session, up to a comfortable maximum.
Current amplitude rose in a straight line. Evoked force climbed from about 200 N to about 800 N.
Average stimulated force reached 77 percent of each player’s starting maximum voluntary contraction.
Every athlete finished every session. Compliance was 100 percent.
Quadriceps strength kept rising through the whole study period.
The highest strength numbers appeared three weeks after the last EMS session.
Countermovement jump height rose 5.3 percent two weeks after training ended.
It rose 6.4 percent three weeks after training ended.
The stretch-shortening difference between two jump types also improved at that point.
The 2 × 10-metre shuttle sprint got 3.3 percent faster three weeks after the program.
Those extra power gains faded by the fourth week after EMS stopped.
Squat jumps and repeated jumps showed no clear change.
The researchers noted the method took little time. One strength block lasted only ten minutes.
They pointed out that some top players and coaches already used similar devices.
The study was small and had no separate control group. Results applied to these tennis athletes.
Still, the numbers showed EMS can be added to preseason practice and may lift later jump and sprint scores.
The team suggested pairing it with other work, such as plyometrics, to keep the gains.
EMS here was a training tool for sport performance, not a medical treatment.
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Research Summary
| Topic | What the study recorded |
|---|---|
| Original paper | PubMed record · DOI 10.1519/JSC.0b013e318196b784 |
| Title and journal | Feasibility and Efficacy of Progressive Electrostimulation Strength Training for Competitive Tennis Players, Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 2009, 23(2):677–682 |
| Research team | Led by Nicola A. Maffiuletti with partners at Schulthess Clinic (Zurich), University of Burgundy (Dijon), Blue Team Tennis Academy (Arezzo) and Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital (Boston) |
| Study aim | Test whether short EMS strength blocks could sit inside preseason tennis sessions and still lift anaerobic performance |
| Players | Twelve competitive athletes (5 men, 7 women), mean age 23 ± 3 years, height 171 ± 7 cm, mass 63 ± 8 kg, ITN 2–5 |
| Training dose | Nine quadriceps EMS sessions over 3 weeks (3 per week), each about 16 minutes, placed inside usual tennis practice |
| Stimulation settings | 85 Hz, 400 µs pulses, 4 s tetanic work / 25 s rest, 20 isometric contractions per session on a seated leg-extension rig |
| Progression | Players raised current themselves; amplitude rose session to session (r = 0.99) and evoked force rose from about 200 N to about 800 N (r = 0.95) |
| Evoked load | Mean stimulated force across sessions was 77 ± 21% of pre-training maximum voluntary contraction |
| Attendance | Treatment compliance was 100% |
| Strength finding | Maximal quadriceps force rose across the full 7-week window (p < 0.001), with the highest mean at week 6 |
| Jump finding | Countermovement jump height was +5.3% at week 5 and +6.4% at week 6 versus baseline (p < 0.05) |
| Elastic finding | Stretch-shortening gain (CMJ minus squat jump) rose from 1.9 cm at baseline to 3.3 cm at week 6 (p = 0.022) |
| Speed finding | 2 × 10 m shuttle sprint time was 3.3% shorter at week 6 (p = 0.004) |
| Follow-up note | Jump and sprint advantages were no longer significant by week 7, four weeks after EMS stopped |
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