Pickleball injuries and prevention

The popularity of pickleball has exploded in the last few years, and according to a recent report, so have injuries attributed to the relatively new sport.

Dr. Sanj Kakar, a Mayo Clinic orthopedic surgeon who specializes in hand and wrist disorders, says there are two main injuries he sees due to pickleball. He offers three ways to prevent them.

A common pickleball injury is a traumatic one—like a broken wrist.

“Sometimes the patients are a little bit older, they may have undiagnosed osteoporosis, they fall over, they break their wrist, and we see actually a lot of those injuries,” says Dr. Kakar.

He says players can also face problems from overuse.

“For example, the tendinitis type of injuries that when somebody plays, they’re not conditioned to it,” he says.

The goal is to prevent those type of problems in the first place. Dr. Kakar says to think of these three P’s when heading to the court.

“Properly warming up, having proper equipment and also proper form,” he explains.

Warm up by doing stretches before taking your first swing.

“It’s not tennis, it’s not squash, it’s its own sport. So having proper equipment is important,” says Dr. Kakar.

Proper equipment is important, “like having a proper padder, which is thicker so you are not gripping as hard,” he says.

And when it comes to proper form, consider taking a lesson.

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