LIFE+ Blog

However, pickleball does not come without a level of risk. Common injuries in pickleball include:

• Sprains and strains from repetitive play
  • Lateral epicondylitis
  • Rotator cuff strain at the shoulder
  • Wrist sprains
  • Achilles tendonitis
  • Knee or hip pain
• An occasional fracture due to a fall

Injuries happen most when an individual is poorly warmed up to play or after the onset of fatigue (for example, after playing > 1-2 hours).

Read more about How to Prevent Tennis Elbow, Find Your Balance: How to Prevent Falling Injuries, or Just Google It: How to Properly Assess Your Injury.

Ways to Prevent Pickleball Injuries

Nevertheless, there are certain measures you can take to prevent injury when playing pickleball and your physical therapist can help you stay healthy and active. Recommendations include:

• Warm-up well before play, dinking the ball back and forth and progressing towards longer, more powerful shots as your body warms up.
• Finish the play with gentle stretches to cool down
  • Hip flexor stretch
  • Calf stretch
  • Shoulder and forearm stretches
• Train your hips, knees, and ankles to tolerate the side-to-side motions, squats, pivoting, and stepping required to play pickleball. If you are new to pickleball, it is very important to ease into these movements. Training may include performing squats, side lunges, and split squats to train your hips and knees to move through a variety of positions.
• Wear court shoes, as they provide stability and give you smooth and efficient weight transfers while playing pickleball.
• Stay hydrated and eat nutritious food to give you the fuel you need to play!

Want more injury prevention tips? Read Injury Prevention 101: General Tips to Stay Pain-Free, Psychologically Coming Back from a Major Injury, or How to Increase Mid-Back Movement and Reduce Shoulder Pain with these 2 Exercises.