AUSTIN, Texas – As pickleball grows in popularity, so does the number of injuries from the sport.
“It’s good for all ages, so you see people who haven’t played in a while or participated in any sport jumping a little too fast without preparation and then injuries are more likely to happen.” said Ryan Ylanan, a physical therapist at TexPTS.
Ylanan said the most common pickleball injuries they see are ankle injuries, knee ligament injuries, and shoulder and elbow injuries.
“A lot of these will be overuse injuries for people who don’t have racquet sports experience,” Ylanan said.
Because pickleball is easier to learn than other sports, Ylanan said he sees many of his patients spend hours without leaving their seats. Lifelong tennis player-turned-pickleball player Tyler Cox said he’s drawn to spending hours on the court.
“You will feel the effects if you don’t warm up and stretch properly,” Cox said. “As you go into the second or third hour, you’ll see injuries showing up.”
Cox said when they play community games, they have a habit of treating the first game as a warm-up game, which means they spend even more time playing the courts.
“I’ve had patients who say they’ve been playing for about three or four hours every day or even on weekends without even realizing it,” Ylanan said. “And they always have one more set, one more match that they want to play because it’s hard fought too.”
When injuries do occur, Ylanan said the most important thing is to rest but maintain mobility in the injured area. Once it’s mobile, he said the next step is to work toward slowly regaining strength in that area before going back to the courts.
And for those who want to try Pickleball, Ylanan said the most important thing to remember is to tune into the sport and listen to your body.
“The important thing is not to jump in so quickly and get into a very high competitive state if you’ve never played before,” Ylanan said.
And if you’re unsure if you’re physically ready to play pickleball, Texas Physical Therapists offers a screening process to determine your activity level and see what type of sport you can prepare for.
Melia Masumoto on social media: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
KVUE on social media: Facebook|Twitter|Instagram|youtube
Comments are closed.