Preventing Pickleball Injuries
Pickleball is a sport that has taken off in popularity in recent years, reaching people of all ages and abilities. The sport is a great way to get outside, be active, and socialize. With its spike in popularity has also come a spike in pickleball injuries seen in our Physical Therapy clinics, so here we will talk about ways to prevent injury, the most common Pickleball injuries, and when professional help may be warranted. Preventing injury is important to not only be able to continue playing a sport you enjoy pain-free, but also to prevent an injury from interfering with your daily functional tasks, such as walking, stairs, or picking an object up off the floor. Learn how preventing pickleball injuries can keep you on the court year-round.
Common pickleball injuries:
- Hamstring Strain – the hamstring is a group of muscles that extend the hip and flex the knee, located at the back of the thigh. The hamstrings are commonly injured in sports that require quickly slowing down a motion, such as running or jumping and quickly attempting to slow the acceleration.
- Gastroc Strain – the gastroc is a muscle in the calf that is a big muscle used for pushing off with jumping and running. A strain can occur at the muscle when a force is required from the muscle larger than the muscle can handle, such as large jumping or lunging motions.
- Achilles Tendonitis – The Achilles tendon is located at the distal portion of the gastroc and soleus muscle that attaches to the calcaneus bone. The tendon becomes irritated with repeated motions at the ankle, including jumping.
- Lateral Epicondylitis or “Tennis Elbow” – is pain located at the lateral portion of the elbow where wrist extensors and supinator muscles attach to the humerus. This commonly occurs with repeated motions at the wrist and forearm.
- Sprained ankle – a sprained ankle occurs when the ligaments that support the ankle are overstretched, commonly with “rolling” the ankle.
Prevention
- Warm-Up and Stretching:
An easy way to prevent injury is to warm up before the game, and to STAY warmed up. Get to the courts 5-10 minutes before the start of your game. Start with a full body warm-up to improve blood flow to your musculoskeletal system, such as walking or jogging around the courts, jumping jacks, or jumping rope. Next, complete dynamic warm-up stretches to continue increasing blood flow throughout the body, which can include the grapevine, high knees, butt kicks, or Frankenstein kicks. Finally, prep your body for movements that occur during pickleball, such as squats, forward and lateral lunges, lateral shuffling, and quick sprints.
Then, it’s important to stay warm throughout your playing time. This means if you are playing later into the season when the weather starts to cool, wear appropriate clothing to keep your limbs warm. Further, if you are taking breaks or subbing into and out of games, stay warmed up over static waiting periods, such as with jumping jacks or jogging in place.
Strength and Conditioning in Preparation:
Pickleball is a sport that consists of quick bursts of speed in multiple planes, plyometrics, and lunging in multi-directions for the ball. Further, utilizing a paddle requires strength up the chain in postural muscles, rotator cuff muscles, and supporting upper extremity muscles. To prepare the body for these repeated motions throughout the length of a pickleball game, it’s important to build strength in the muscles that are responsible for these motions.
Strengthening the Upper Extremities:
- Rows
- Rotator Cuff Strengthening: shoulder internal rotation and external rotation
- Scapular retractions
Strengthening the Lower Extremities:
- Calf Raises
- Squats
- Lunges in Multiple Planes: Forward, Lateral, and Backward
Plyometric Activities:
- Squat Jumps, can progress by jumping onto a step or jumping off of a step
- Single Leg Hops
- Shuffling in multiple planes
Proper Technique and Form:
- Hold the paddle with a light grip, avoid tightly gripping the paddle as this over-engages the forearm muscles which can lead to pain up at the elbow.
- Try to maintain a neutral wrist position. When hitting the ball, the power should come from further up the chain in the shoulder and trunk postural muscles rather than at the wrist.
- Remain in a ready position with knees bent and weight at the balls of the feet. This allows the body to react quickly to a change in direction or lunge towards the ball.
- Stay light on the feet. When listening to yourself play, you should barely be able to hear your feet hit the ground to decrease the ground reaction force.
Proper Footwear:
Tennis shoes that properly fit your foot should be worn. Sandals and crocs do not provide enough support to the foot and can shift around on your foot while quickly running or lunging for the ball. Tennis shoes that are too loose can move around on your foot, leading to a greater risk of an ankle sprain or injury. Tennis shoes that are too loose or too tight may also cause blisters on areas that rub.
Hydration and Nutrition:
With any exercise, it’s important to stay properly fueled and hydrated. A general rule of thumb for proper hydration is to drink half of your body weight in ounces daily. This is especially important with exercise, especially if playing pickleball in hot or humid conditions. Make sure to bring a water bottle with you to your pickleball games and try sipping throughout playtime. Further, bring a recovery snack, such as a protein bar, nuts, trail mix, or banana or apple with peanut butter.
Rest and Recovery:
Most of the common injuries occur with overuse or repeated motions, so it’s important to give yourself a rest day to prevent these. Instead of playing pickleball as your only source of exercise, try creating a routine of implementing off days between pickleball with other forms of exercise to prevent overuse in the muscles that may be repeatedly loaded with pickleball. Make sure to give your body a recovery day from intense exercise each week, which can be replaced by a walk, yoga, or other gentle form of exercise that you enjoy.
Other important tips for proper rest and recovery include good sleep hygiene. Ways to promote proper sleep include going to bed and waking up at a similar time every day, sleeping in a dark and cool environment, avoiding screen time 30 minutes before bed, avoiding heavy exercise 2 hours before bed, and avoiding pre-bedtime snacks especially those that contain sugar or caffeine.
If an injury does occur, try utilizing relative rest, ice, compression, elevation, and gentle mobility. Gentle mobility can include light stretches and strengthening in a pain-free range and intensity. A Physical Therapist can help guide your treatment to help you regain your full range of motion, strength, and function to help you return to pickleball faster and help you prevent re-injury.
Play safely and enjoy the game!