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10 Strategies for Pickleball Injury Prevention
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What One Player’s Pickleball Injury Can Teach You
Steve, a 59-year-old retired teacher, picked up pickleball during the pandemic. He began playing regularly, usually four times a week with friends at a community centre. One afternoon, while backpedalling, Steve lost balance, twisted his ankle, and fell backwards, injuring his wrist in the process. The result: a grade II ankle sprain and a hairline fracture of the distal radius.
Steve was shocked—not just by the pain, but by how long his recovery would take. “I thought I was in decent shape,” he said. “But I hadn’t been warming up properly or training outside of playing pickleball. I was just showing up and playing.”
With help from his physiotherapist, Steve was able to recover and return to the court with some useful tips: wearing better footwear, doing pre-game warmups, post-game cool downs and following a strength routine. A year later, Steve hasn’t suffered from any pickleball injuries.
Pickleball Surge
Pickleball has gained a lot of popularity as a fun and competitive game. With pickleball’s rise in popularity, physiotherapists are seeing more patients coming in with concerns. Some of the most common injuries in pickleball are ankle injuries, shoulder injuries, wrist injuries, and knee injuries. Luckily, there are some strategies you can use to help prevent injuries.
10 Proven Pickleball Strategies to Stay Injury-Free:
1. A Dynamic Warm-Up
Going into pickleball with tight muscles and stiff joints can easily lead to soft tissues injuries.
What to do:
- 5-minute dynamic warmup: bodyweight exercises, jumping jacks, small jog, arm circles, etc.
- Avoid static movements and holds as these do not properly prepare your muscles for quick movements in pickleball.
Why It’s Important
A proper warm up will allow more blood flow to your muscles and allow you to move easily when playing pickleball.
2. Gradual Play
It is easy to go from never playing pickleball to always wanting to play, but that’s a one-way ticket to overuse injuries. It’s important to remember to ease into the sport.
Best practice:
- Increase pickleball play a little more each week
- Work on muscle strengthening outside of pickleball with strength and endurance training
- Incorporate rest days
Why It’s Important
A sudden increase in activity can stress out your muscles and joints. It takes time for your body to adapt to the new sport of pickleball.
3. Regular Exercise and Strength Training
Exercise and muscle strengthening is beneficial long term for injury prevention but can also help improve balance and coordination for pickleball.
The main focus:
- It is recommended to strength train at least 2-3x per week.
- For pickleball, your target areas are glutes, core, shoulders, and ankles
Why It’s Important
Muscles protect your bones by absorbing shock, reducing strain on your ligaments and help stabilizing your body. All of which are important for injury prevention in pickleball.
4. Proper Pickleball Footwear
Court shoes are recommended when playing pickleball as they will offer you more support when moving side to side.
What to look for in a shoe:
- Ankle support for lateral movements
- Grips to prevent sliding or slipping
- Cushioning and arch support
Why It’s Important
Using the proper shoe can help you lower your chances of ankle sprains, plantar fasciitis, knee strains and more.
5. Proper Technique
Poor grip and technique can cause strain on various parts of your body that are doing repetitive movements.
Technique tips:
- Avoid too tight of a grip on your paddle
- Use your legs and core to increase power in your shots
- Work alongside a coach or professional for tips
Why It’s Important
Improper technique can lead pickleball related injuries if not corrected.
6. Find The Right Pickleball Paddle
There are lots of things to take into consideration when looking for a paddle, especially if you are prone to injury and looking to prevent them.
What to consider:
- Weight: Finding a paddle that’s between light and heavy will help to reduce injury but also offer you lots of power.
- Grip size: A grip that fits your hand so you can do as little wrist extension as possible.
- Materials: Wood and aluminum tend to cause vibrations down the paddle; to avoid this try composite paddles.
Why It’s Important
Using the wrong paddle can cause you to do more movement than necessary leading to stress on your elbows, wrists, and shoulders.
7. Learn Your Health
Lots of athletes can suffer from health conditions that they are unaware of such as osteoarthritis, chronic conditions and many more.
Recommendations:
- Talk to your doctor about health history and genetics to see what you may have or are prone to
- Seek treatment: physiotherapy, sports medicine, chiropractic
- Considering bracing or orthotics
- Don’t skip rest days
Why It’s Important
Repetitive pickleball play can cause pre-existing health conditions to flare up, causing pain, discomfort, and stress on your joints. Learn what you may have to take the necessary steps.
8. Improve Your Footwork and Coordination
Poor footwork and lack of coordination can lead to falls, which are one of the leading causes of injury and trips to the hospital!
Training tips:
- Practice hand eye coordination by incorporating functional exercises into your workout
- Warm-up with lateral movements: side shuffles, side lunges
- Try pivoting to run forwards instead of backwards
Why It’s Important
It will reduce your chances of ankle sprains, falls, and knee injuries from awkward twists and falls when you’re playing pickleball!
9. Cool Down and Recovery Time
This is the best time to do static stretches to avoid tight and sore muscles after a game of pickleball.
Post-game routine:
- Avoid sitting or laying down right after a game
- Go for a short walk to calm your body down and stretch your legs
- Prioritize hydration, nutrition, and 8 hours of sleep
Why It’s Important
A short cool down and recovery is crucial for overuse pickleball injury prevention and for maintaining flexibility.
10. Listen to Your Body
Your body may be trying to tell you that something is wrong either during your pickleball or play or afterwards and it’s important to listen.
Warning signs:
- Pain or swelling after game play
- Reduced range of motion
- Aching at night
What to do:
- Take a couple of days off to see if your symptoms reduce
- If symptoms continue, see a physiotherapist for advice
Why It’s Important
Recognizing an injury in the early stages can help you out in the future. Waiting too long to solve a problem can cause more in the long run!
Pickleball is a great way to remain active, especially as you age! To stay playing, make sure you’re properly prepared by taking the necessary precautions and giving your body what it needs so you can continue playing the amazing sport of pickleball!
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