Could My Pickleball Obsession Even More Epically Transform My Health?

Hello, our paddle wielding friend. We are happy you’ve found this article. Have you ever considered how your Pickleball obsession is unlocking greater health and wellness for you?

From the social to the mental and physical demands of the game, your love of Pickleball is cultivating a level of wellness within you that may not have existed before.

Ready to expand upon that?

To improve overall athleticism and reduce your chance of injury enjoying your new found love, it is a wise course of action to implement some additional cross training into your week.

The age group most at risk for injury are pickleball athletes 50 years and older, and the overall most common cause of injury (63%) being from falls.

So, PickleFriend, what should you be training outside of your skills to improve your Pickleball game and reduce risk of injury? Let’s dive into the injuries we would be bulletproofing from first.

COMMON INJURIES

The following can result from sudden change in direction, pivoting, decelerating or accelerating:

• Achilles Tear

• Other Ligament Sprains (or) Tears

• Meniscal Tears

From the general demand of the sport, especially when a proper warm up is not a regular part of the athlete’s routine, strains in the:

• Hamstrings

• Quadriceps

• Hip Flexors

• Adductors

• Calf

can result. In the upper body, the wrist, elbow, and shoulder are all susceptible to injury via:

• Wrist Fractures (from falling on an extended arm)

• Medial or Lateral Epicondylitis (Tennis Elbow)

• Acute (or) Chronic Shoulder Overuse Injury (repetivie swinging of the paddle, but less common than tennis due to the weight of the racket)

INJURY PREVENTION

"Success depends upon previous preparation, and without such preparation there is sure to be failure". — Confucius 

The demands, and thereby physiological benefits, of Pickleball are unlike what we experience in daily life. Pickleball athletes are challenged with multi-directional movement, a heightened level of body awareness and positioning, and of course must be able to perform a variety of swings from a variety of positions while maintaining an upright posture.

To not prepare oneself for this type of physiological stress outside of a Pickleball match is to increase ones chance of incurring an injury, or worse, losing your matches with great frequency (I guess that second part depends on who you ask).

Training a mixture of speed, agility, power, and reaction time outside of the Pickleball court makes the athlete a more deadly player and keeps them off the injury list. Furthermore, strategically integrating mobility training as a way to warm up for strength and conditioning sessions and apply at home for recovery, improves range of motion of joints on and off the court for better overall quality of life and further decreases risk of injury from playing.

PICKLEFIT

If you live in the Anchorage area, we have you covered by our Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialists with our once weekly PickleFit class from 6:15 - 7:15pm at the Sweat Lab!

Online program coming soon. Join the mailing list here to stay up to date.