Four friends who regularly play pickleball together say they’ve come up with some common-sense guidelines to avoid injury.
“No diving!” joked Steve Schaack.
“Don’t take the game too seriously,” added Jim Walters.
Nevertheless, one of the men, Brian Hoffman, noted that he had skinned his knees a couple of
times playing the sport.
As pickleball has risen in popularity, so have injuries suffered by participants.
“I personally have seen the gamut of injuries,” said Dr. Justin Strickland, a Wichita sports surgeon. “Hip fractures, Achilles ruptures, wrist fractures, overuse injures like tendonitis in the elbow and shoulder, ankle sprains.”
Strickland completed a fellowship in sports surgery and has practiced in Wichita with Kansas Joint & Spine Specialists since 2010.
He noticed a rise in pickleball-related injuries about a decade ago coinciding with the sport booming in popularity. The injuries fell off during the coronavirus pandemic but are now “back to where they were before COVID.”
“Anytime something grows that quickly, we’re going to see more injuries from it, naturally,” he said.
According to one national study, published in the Orthopaedic Journal of Sports Medicine, there was a significant increase in pickleball-related injuries sending players to emergency rooms nationwide between 2013 and 2022, with most arising from a fall.
“Older players disproportionally presented (injuries) to the emergency department with pickleball-related injuries,” the study concluded.
Strickland said wrist injuries caused by falls are the most common type he sees. Women are more likely to fracture their wrists in those instances, he said. “They put their hands out because they don’t want to smash their face, so they break their wrist.”
Hip fractures are rarer, although Strickland has seen them.
Ankle sprains and injuries to the Achilles tendon are often caused by someone pushing off on a foot. Even stretching may not prevent them, Strickland said, noting that a couple of star professional basketball players suffered the same injury during last year’s playoffs.
“Sometimes, honestly it can be bad luck that you push off, and the tendon just ruptures,” he said.
Fractures, strains and sprains are acute injuries. Another type of injury is the result of overuse, leading to tendonitis in the elbow, wrist and rotator cuff. “They become painful and inflamed when they’re used too much,” Strickland said.
Eye injuries, dehydration, back strains, heat stroke and heart attacks are also possible.
Strickland makes these recommendations to pickleball players:
• Consider wearing eye protection.
• Warm up before play begins.
• Be in correct position during play. “The ready position is feet shoulder- width apart and knees bent, to prevent tripping and falling. Having that athletic position, that ready position, is important,” Strickland said.
• Don’t overdo it by playing nonstop. Strickland suggested incorporating other forms of exercise to be generally in shape and active outside “pickleball.”
• Women may want to get tested for bone density after the age of 50.
• Avoid backpedaling. “You’re way more apt to injure yourself if you’re backpedaling than if going forward,” Strickland said.
Strickland said many pickleball injuries can be treated without surgery, and it’s rare for somebody who’s been injured not to be able to resume playing.
“They may have to stop it for a matter of time, but typically we can get people on the court. You can have fun, you can it do it your entire life. There’s a lot of social benefits from it.”
Hoffman has no plans to quit despite skinning his knees. He and his friends usually warm up by hitting short dink shots before starting their games, and are more apt to compliment one another than go racing after a well-placed shot, he said.
“If it’s a good shot, we just say ‘good shot.’”
