DEAR DR. DONOHUE: This summer I have taken up tennis. I’m 55 and never played it before. I have played many other sports. I really like tennis, so I’ve started taking lessons with a young, local pro. He played college-level tennis, and he’s a good instructor. He tells me I can improve my game by “visualizing” myself hitting the ball. I find this somewhat hard to believe. Have you heard of it? If you have, what do you make of it? — B.R.

ANSWER: Yes, I’ve heard of it. It’s visualization, also called exercise imagery. You play your sport in your imagination. I do believe it works. It helps control anxiety, increases your confidence and perfects your performance.

Many professional athletes employ visualization, and many coaches encourage its use. Olympic athletes in different sports, golfers, swimmers, ice skaters — you name it — have endorsed this method.

You sit comfortably in a chair and relax. If you want, have some soothing music playing. Close your eyes and imagine you’re playing tennis, stroking the ball as your coach has taught. It helps if you have an instructional tape of your sport. You can visualize that tape with you being the player. The more senses you bring into play while you’re doing this, the more effective it becomes. Imagine the sounds that occur during play, like the “thwack” of the ball. All of this incorporates the way the brain controls your muscles.

It takes around 30 five- to 10-minute sessions before you notice any improvement.

Want an example of how visualization helps motor memory? A Chinese pianist, Liu Chi Kung, was jailed for seven years. I don’t remember what the charges were. When he was released from prison, he resumed his piano playing. Critics said he played better than he did before he was imprisoned. Asked how he managed to retain and improve his playing talent, he said he practiced playing the piano in his mind every day of his jail term. That’s the same routine as visualization. It imprints into the brain the kind of wiring needed for muscle control and performance.

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: Our son started practicing soccer with his friends about two weeks ago. He’s 14 and wants to make his school’s team.

For the past three days, he has complained of ankle pain. He touches the outside of his right ankle. He said he didn’t injure or twist the ankle. The pain just happened. We wonder if we should pursue this with a doctor. Should we? — L.L.

ANSWER: Yes. I can only make a suggestion. Your son might have a stress fracture of his fibula, the less thick of the two lower leg bones. Stress fractures are tiny cracks in the bone. They come from sudden overuse. If your son isn’t conditioned to lots of running, his leg bone might not be up to handling the new activity.

Early stress fractures don’t always show on an X-ray, but they do on a bone scan. These bone cracks heal in about four weeks, and the person can usually resume athletic activities in six weeks.

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: We rent a cottage for the summer. It’s on a lake. Our four children swim daily and come down with “swimmers’ ear” every summer. What can I do to prevent it? — H.M.

ANSWER: Make a solution of equal parts white vinegar and rubbing alcohol. The alcohol dries the ear, and the vinegar (acetic acid) takes care of germs that make their way into the ear canal.

When your children have finished swimming for the day, dry their ears by putting the edge of a towel in the ear canal — gently. Then put two drops of the alcohol-vinegar solution in the ear and let it stay for two minutes. Have the child turn his head to the shoulder to remove the mix or use the towel-edge approach again. Then treat the other ear.

Dr. Donohue regrets that he is unable to answer individual letters, but he will incorporate them in his column whenever possible. Readers may write him or request an order form of available health newsletters at P.O. Box 536475, Orlando, FL 32853-6475. Readers may also order health newsletters from www.rbmamall.com.

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