Do vibration dampeners help with tennis?
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- Опубліковано 7 лют 2025
- Dampeners do not help tennis elbow, change string tension, increase string durability, boost power, add spin or any of the other benefits, however, numerous pieces of independent research have shown that string dampers do not reduce the amount of racquet frame vibration that you will feel in your forearm, they only reduce string vibration and dampen the sound of the strings when you hit with them.
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I used to use 2 dampeners (one round, one worm) on my racquet string but now I got rid of the worm and I am using only the round one, and I am liking it because I get audio feedback when the ball hits the string. The sound of string vibration became a motivating factor for me to aim the ball in the sweet spot of the string bed. This is more important for a beginner who is starting to learn tennis. I believe the audio feedback will help the beginners hit the ball cleanly in the center of the string bed.
I did not know people would use them in other case of stopping the annoying sound. Back then I used an elastic, i would never cross my mind that such a small thing it could "prevent" tennis elbow lol.
it actually does reduce the vibration to the handle as well, in addition to muffing the string noise. I could feel the difference with/without it.
I agree
It doesn’t
@@bengray5013 I did an experiment on this and proved it.
I demoed a racket that I absolutely hated the first few times I went out to play (Shift 99). I put a Head Smartsorb on it, which is my favorite dampener, and it completely changed the racquet feel and I actually considered it
Dampener player here for most of my life. Pete Sampras was a big inspiration and he used one so that was probably why I started. Many years later, any time I try to experiment with playing without a dampener I go straight back to using one. I am used to the auditory feedback of dampened strings and something feels off when I hit without one.
Pete is definitely a great player to look up to!
Dampers have only one perpose is to shrink sweet spot. It just change no harm vibration to harmful vibration, it can just enhance tennis elbow possibility.
It does help reducing the vibration from the string and the pain for me. I feel significantly less numb after using a damper on my racket.
Placebo works
@@verlatenwolf it’s not placebo lol. Imagine what would happen if you pluck a long string and then place your finger on it. Also if you read that research carefully, it says it doesn’t reduce the vibration of the racket but the string.
@@tshd4B2ZNWS Yes and you are holding the racket. So that is where arm issues come from. The weight of the ball times the difference in the directionalspeed from the ball and the racket which your muscles need to catch the impact every time. Also some vibrations involved but not in the handle so not through your muscles.
That might be a shift in balance due to the weight of the dampener rather than the reduction in vibration.
There's a fair bit of confusion here. Can I just clear up a few things:
It's proven (my source is the "Physics and Technology of Tennis" and the studies they cite - page 67 onwards in the latest edition) that adding a dampener doesn't change racket frame vibration. They also state that it's never been proven that racket frame vibration or dampeners have an effect on tennis elbow. Two facts you repeat, which is all good. However, you're drawing some incorrect conclusions from these facts. Frame and strings are different things, and injury and strings are certainly different things. Connected, yes, but proof of a change or lack of change in one doesn't prove anything about the other. The string dampener *is* actually dampening the motion of the strings, which is why they sound different when they hit a ball and afterwards when you hear the ping. This is a change (you hear it clearly) and it will invariably have an effect on how the ball enters and leaves the string bed, because the response of the strings is changing (the sound tells us that; just like sound testing a racket tells us the tension of the strings). Whether that effect is noticeable or not I don't know as I've not seen a study on that. All I'm saying is that it's incorrect to connect these two facts: frame vibration and string vibration - they are separate things. Connected, yes, but proof of a facet of one *does not* automatically prove that same fact about the other. Think of it this way: there's probably no evidence that the choice of gut or poly strings affect injuries or frame vibration, but you can sure tell the difference when you hit the ball.
Your analogy with a guitar string is misleading and you're drawing an incorrect conclusion from it. A dampener in any system is indeed there to slow vibrations down faster after an initial shock. This applies to car suspension, a dampener on a cello string, a finger on a guitar, or a dampener on tennis strings. That's the purpose of a damper/dampener. However, the dampener in all these cases inevitably affects the initial response to the shock as well. Dampers on cars are tuned, by highly skilled people over months of testing, to change not just how the car reacts after a bump, but also *during* a bump - it's how we tune handling in motorsport. We do the same on a cello to tame "wolf notes" (excessive vibration, usually resonance, on particular notes, when they are played - not after, but when they're played). In this way, the finger on a guitar string changes how the string sounds when it is plucked - this dampening during play is used extensively in many forms of guitar music - metal is the best example. So with a tennis racket, the presence of a dampener will inevitably effect how the string responds to the initial shock, not just the after effects, and therefore how the ball enters and leaves the string bed. Whether this is measurable and noticeable is a different topic (and one I'd love to test), but it is incorrect to say there is no effect. And to return to my first point, it is incorrect to use the lack of frame vibration or injury prevention as proof of this.
The only thing the dampener does is reduce the annoying "ping" sound of the strings, that's it.
To say dampeners don't affect comfort is to allege that they can't be felt by the user. That is unsupportable. Take a wide ADV dampener, and put it in a a fairly resonant racquet like a Pure Drive or Wilson Ultra with a stiff poly. You can absolutely feel the change in resonance in the handle by adding the dampener. Just as you can when you replace poly with mutli, replace your grip, or change out worn grommets. Now, I agree they don't prevent or alleviate tennis elbow, but that is an argument with different parameters.
Nowadays it might not be an issue to play without a dampener but it definitely had health benefits in the 90s. Those vibrations coming from the strings to the handle on off centre hits were really nasty with the old rackets. I could feel pain in my hand even the day after the training. Dampener completely solved this. Now the rackets are so well muted you dont really need a dampener but it still adds a little bit of comfort.
That’s crazy that you could still be feeling the pain in your hand the next day after training! What racquets were you using at the time that caused that much pain without a dampner?
@@brodytaylor2020 I had Head Lite Tour and Prince Neon (it was all black, no idea why it was called neon). Plus some no name rackets my parents used. I clearly remember those shocks it send to my arm. Maybe when you grow you are more sensitive to this? I dont know.
Maybe. Like you said the technology of racquets has become extremely more dampened but it’s still a bit of a mystery
What I have noticed is, when I use a damper, the ball doesn’t bounce as far as without using a damper from the racket. So if my racket (strings) bouncing the ball too far with my simple block/slice shots, I would use a dampener. If my racket(strings) is perfectly tensioned I would never use a dampener.
but if you got a high ra raquet that trasmits more vibration becouse the raquet itself does not take it , reducin vibration of the string will make less vibration conduct into the raquet wich will lead to less vibration getting to you handle at least on high ra raquet or using aluminum you can fill it the dampener make the handle resive less vibration.
After 25 years playing with dampener I play without since 4 years.
Modern frames are too muted to further mute it.
Doesn´t even change anything except weight when playing a VDM Yonex racquet anyway, so I might as well play without.
Anyone who's used them will say they change the feel and the sound. And they will either use it not based on whether they like that or not.
I can’t feel where the ball hits my strings when using one, haven’t used them consistently in years
The sound and also the feel is completely different…adding the dampener automatically makes the tension feel slightly higher, obviously it’s not changing but it absolutely feels a bit tighter and less trampoline like with a dampener…different dampeners feel different too, I’ve 2 round dampeners slightly different in size which I didn’t realise until I was scratching my head as to why 2 identically spec racquets felt different, it was the slightly larger dampener
As long as you feel good and play better using it or not is entirely up to you. Before i dont use dampener soon i got rid of it. Its a very subjective topic.
The pros only seem to do what works. Given what you've said, why do so many religiously use dampeners?
Sound is also feel.
The human body in all its glorious complexity can (partly) use sound to interpret what is often termed 'Feel'; adding a damper changes the sound of the ball hitting the strings and nothing more.
This is also true in golf where in tests players couldn't tell between club differences (e.g forged or cast irons) when their hearing was impeded by earplugs or ear defenders.
Interesting! I’ve never heard of that
I do know that I notice rapidly when the dampener fell off and that I want to put it back in as soon as possible. 😏
If they think that string dampeners do not change the comfort, the USRSA has a very different concept of racquet comfort to my own.
I really dislike the “ping” sound strings make when there is no dampner. It’s really off putting.
Just hit harder and the ping sound will stop
For me any dampener kills ball feel, so I have never used them
Started playing tennis around a year ago with a decent progress. I’ve been using them all the time.
But last two sessions I intentionally played without dampener - and I like so much better. I feel the ball better.
So I’m considering getting rid of them. Meanwhile I use hybrid setup (poly+multi) and not extremely stiff racket (64), so no problem so far.
Just use an elastic band.
I have used and will always keep using one. The vibration feels funny in my arm bones.
Sounds like a plan
It’s not at all the case those things have anything to do with preventing tennis elbow.