As with any sport, you can get hurt playing pickleball. It’s a fast-paced racquet sport similar to tennis and badminton, and players have to make quick pivots as they change direction to reach the ball. That combination of speed and sudden direction changes is exactly what leads to most pickleball injuries.
The most common injuries
Similar to tennis and other racquet sports, the most common pickleball injuries involve the ankles and wrists.
Ankle strains are the most common lower-extremity injury, caused by the sudden changes of direction pickleball demands. They can range from mild, where you can still put some weight on the injured area, to more serious impairments of foot movement.
Achilles tendon strains happen from the repeated stop-and-go action of waiting for the ball, then maneuvering quickly toward it. This strain is usually immediately noticeable, since it becomes difficult to put weight on the foot.
Wrist strains often come from falls: pickleball players are constantly pacing back and forth on the court, and trips happen. The instinct to stretch out your arms to break a fall can overstretch or slightly tear the ligaments in the wrist, leading to swelling and difficulty rotating the wrist. Mild strains typically start healing within a few days.
Shoulder strains are also common. Even though pickleball serves and volleys stay below shoulder height, the repetitive force can still produce rotator cuff inflammation or tendonitis.
Forget RICE: think MEAT
The traditional recovery advice, Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation (RICE), is actually outdated and less effective than other strategies. A better framework is the MEAT method: Movement, Exercise, Analgesics, Treatment.
Movement comes first. Begin gentle movement in the injured area as soon as you reasonably can. A short period of relative rest, a few days or a bit longer, is fine, but the goal is light movement without exceeding your pain tolerance. Movement brings oxygen-rich blood to the area to support healing and helps clear out tissue debris.
Exercise comes next. A gradual increase in movement lets you start a light, targeted exercise routine. You may not be ready to return fully to pickleball yet, but swimming, biking, or a walking program can be a good next step. Just don’t push through pain while you’re still recovering.
Analgesics can be used as needed to manage pain, but not all pain is bad; pain protects you from a bigger injury. Use pain as a guide for when you might be pushing too hard.
Treatment is the final piece, and the key to long-term, complete healing. Work with a physical therapist or appropriate physician for a real plan. Recovering from the injury is step one; figuring out what needs to change to prevent it from happening again is what actually protects you long-term. Pickleball is a full-body sport, so a recovery plan that only looks at the injured spot misses the bigger picture.
Pickleball keeps growing in popularity because it’s genuinely fun. If you haven’t tried it, give it a shot, just build recovery into your routine before an injury forces the issue.