How to Avoid a Pickleball Injury

Pickleball is the fastest-growing sport in the U.S. with an estimated 5 million people playing the game regularly. Of those 5 million players, half are over the age of 55. Pickleball is great exercise and has the added benefits of improving cholesterol and balance, fighting heart disease, making friends, and helping the brain with depression and stress. While the benefits outweigh the negatives, the downside to playing can happen to anyone: An estimated 19,000 injuries per year occur from pickleball, with 90% of the injuries affecting people 50 and older.

When played in moderation pickleball’s fast pace and quick movements like pivoting, rotating and explosive steps to get the ball can be easy on the body, but when played an excessive amount of injuries can occur. Here at Recovery Lab Institute, we specialize in treatments for pickleball injuries, including the most common:

• Muscle strains
• Achilles’ strains or tears
• Shoulder problems
• Rotator cuff injuries
• Lower back problems such as disc injuries
• Lateral epicondylitis (AKA tennis elbow)
• Plantar fasciitis
• Heel contusions

To avoid injury, we suggest you:

• Eat before playing
• Hydrate before and during gameplay
• Get a sweat going and increase heart rate
• Implement activation stretches before playing (we recommend bands to help stretch the shoulders, hamstrings, quads, knees, and hips)

Most importantly, listen to your body. If you were not physically active before, you will find it in your best interest to ease into the game, thus avoiding musculoskeletal stress. If you begin feeling tired or lethargic in general, you may be overplaying pickleball. Sleep is crucial for recovery. You should get a minimum of seven hours’ sleep, which is important not only for performance playing pickleball but essential for life off the court as well.

Our protocol for avoiding a pickleball injury altogether is:

1. Consider an assessment. Recovery Lab Institute offers assessments and can provide exercises to build strength and agility before you play enabling you to avoid injury.
2. Warm up before you start playing. Stretch your arms and legs with a band and practice movements performed on the court. Your warm-up should be enough to break a light sweat. Work on balance by standing on one leg then the other. Also practice swinging your arms overhead and down as well as across the body - similar to the movements you make swinging the paddle.
3. Engage in strength training exercises. Lifting weights or using your body weight to build up the muscles around the joints can help prevent injury.