- Pickleball's repetitive and quick movements can lead to a variety of injuries.
- Common injuries suffered by pickleball players differ based on their age group.
- Dynamic warmups, stretching routines, suitable shoes, and correct technique can help prevent injuries.
Last year, Mike Green was playing pickleball when he tore both of his hamstrings.
After he got his hamstrings repaired, he then had to get one of his hips replaced, eventually returning to the pickleball courts this April.
“I’m still not near all the way back, you know, but I’m patient, and it’s gonna take a while,” Green said.
He regularly plays pickleball at the Fairmont Park pickleball courts and said that when he returned to playing, he was “slightly” scared of getting injured again.
“It’s just like anything else, you never know when you’re gonna get injured. I’m trying to, like, I go to the gym just about every day, try to do stuff to stay in shape,” he added.
Green is just one of many people who have gotten injured while playing pickleball, though his specific injury is more unique to pickleball players.
Whitney Meier, the Orthopedic Center physical therapy coordinator at the University of Utah, shared that the types of injuries common among pickleball players vary based on age group. She also shared that dynamic warmups and stretches can help prevent some of the common injuries brought on by the sport.
“When I’m hanging out with my older friends, it’s funny, because no one is not injured. They’re all working through something, and they play a heck of a lot more than me,” Meier said.
“It’s harder on the body than people think,” she added.
What are the most common pickleball injuries by age group?
Meier explained that older pickleball players “tend to have more of the traumatic injuries. Like more emergency room visits, wrist fractures, hip fractures from falls.”
It is also common to see what Meier referred to as “nontraumatic” injuries among younger age groups, including ankle and wrist sprains, Achilles tendinopathy and other overuse injuries.
A study from the Orthopedic Journal of Sports Medicine, titled “Increasing Incidents of Pickleball Injuries Presenting to U.S. Emergency Departments,” looked at the common types of injuries across different age groups.
The study looked at 1,100 pickleball injuries between Jan. 1, 2013, and Dec. 31, 2022, from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System. For each case, the demographic information, injury site and diagnosis were recorded. There were five different age groups: 0-17, 18-34, 35-64, 65-80, and 80-plus.
The most common cause of injury while playing pickleball for those in the 0- to 17-year-old age group was being hit by a paddle, with the most common injury location being the face.
For the 18- to 34-year-old age group, the most common cause of injury was a twist/inversion with sprains/strains as the most common type of injury.
Falls were the most common mechanism of injury for the 35- to 64-year-old age group, followed by twists and inversions.
For the older two age groups, 65-80 and 81-plus, falls made up 71.5% and 96% of pickleball injuries, respectively.
What are the most common pickleball injuries overall?
As the sport has grown, the study found a significant increase in pickleball-related injuries between 2013 and 2022 across all age groups. It also estimated that the number of pickleball-related injuries reported to emergency departments in the U.S. each year is 13,690.
Across all age groups, fractures were the most common diagnosis, covering 32.7% of the cases in the study, followed by strains/sprains with 30.8%.
Falls were the most common cause of injuries overall.
The most common fracture site across all age groups was the wrist, making up 29.2% of all fractures. The wrist was also the most injured body part overall.
Brenda Koga, who plays pickleball at Fairmont Park multiple times a week, said that often when she sees people get injured when playing, it’s because of something they already have an issue with, like a knee replacement.
She added that she has seen someone break their wrist and saw another person fall back and hit his head.
What can be done to help prevent pickleball injuries?
Meier explained why pickleball can be so hard on people’s bodies.
“Pickleball is interesting in the sense of, it’s just a lot of repetitiveness. And then there’s this rapid movement, where your body needs to kind of really slow you down quickly and push up quickly. It’s a quick game,” Meier said.
When asked if there are things that can be done to prevent these injuries, she said, “I’ll say a strong definite yes.” She added that dynamic warmups and stretching can help prevent some of the common injuries.
Meier said that typically she sees people not actually warming up — they hit a few “dink” shots with their paddle on court before they start really playing. But, according to Meier, that’s not enough. Meier added that she is active and plays multiple sports but pickleball is the hardest on her body.
She recommends doing a dynamic warmup for five to 10 minutes before going on the court. There are a lot of different ways this can be done.
“Working your arms, your shoulders, and just taking five to 10 minutes of kind of moving in all these multiplanar directions just to get ready to play, versus just going out and playing, would be helpful,” Meier said.
Koga said she tries to “play smart” in order to avoid injury.
“I have fallen before, but if I fall, I don’t try and stop myself. I just go with it and roll,” she said.
She shared that she did sprain her wrist once while playing, but not from falling — it was from trying to stop herself from running into the wall.
Koga said she typically stretches at home before heading to the pickleball court and she often rides her bike to the courts, which helps her warm up.
Meier shared that shoes can also be important to safety in pickleball because different surfaces are different, and the right pair of shoes can make the impact of quick stops lighter.
Learning correct technique is also a way to help prevent pickleball injuries.
Meier shared that some friends advised her to move to the net sooner, and now her movements are less abrupt and she is moving more smoothly and safely.
What are some benefits of playing pickleball?
“The social aspect of it is great, but then it keeps me moving. You know, good exercise, challenging,” Koga said when talking about why she likes playing pickleball.
Despite the risk of injury that comes with playing pickleball, or any sport, for that matter, Meier said there are some benefits. The social aspect of the game is a big one.
“When you play with people and you get to know them,” Green said, “it becomes a community.”
Lon Stalsberg, who also regularly plays at Fairmont Park, described the sport as “a very good social game.”
“You don’t really meet too many people that are not nice,” Stalsberg said.
There are also physical benefits. Meier said pickleball can help people, especially seniors, improve their balance. There are also cardiovascular benefits from being out and moving.
But she added once again that even though pickleball is great to play, “it’s good to prepare your body to play pickleball, too, so you can keep playing.”