Pickleball and injuries

Pickleball is back, baby! We hoped it would happen, and indeed the day has come. But with the return of the sport comes the return of risk for injury. How can you warm up for pickleball (and cool down) to prevent pain or physical trauma? We’re here to tell you.

Some of the most commonly seen injuries from pickleball include:
– Shoulder strains
– Tennis (or pickleball) elbow
– Tendonitis
– Calf strains or tears
– Hamstring strains
– Lower back injuries

And unfortunately there are more to the list.

Here are our top tips for warming up before playing to keep your body in tip-top-pickle-shape:

1. Warm the body up before any stretching – you’re going to want to get your blood flowing and your heart pumping before you try and stretch. You can do this effectively by performing jumping jacks, taking a jog around the pickle-ball court, just get your body moving however feels good for you.
2. Now we stretch!
   1. Bring your arm across your body and pull with the other arm to feel a nice stretch in your shoulder and triceps. Switch!
   2. Perform some windmills to get some juice flowing to your shoulder joints.
   3. Keeping the leg straight, lean back with your left leg out and flexed to stretch the hamstring. Switch legs.
   4. Circle your ankles to warm that joint up to prevent rolling your ankle or any other injury.
   5. Bend your right knee and pull back with your right hand to perform a quat stretch. Repeat on the other side.
   6. There are a million and a half stretches out there, you know your body best. Get ready!
3. Hydrate! Proper hydration is so important for injury prevention. We want to keep our joints lubricated with lots of H20 to make sure our body is functioning at its best. Don’t know how much water to drink? Take your weight, divide it by 2, and swap the pounds to ounces. (Ex: someone is 200lb should drink 100oz water daily)
4. Wear the right shoes! Make sure you are in supportive sneakers, not sandals (even if they have a strap), this is so important to prevent foot, ankle, or leg injuries.
5. Cool down after you play. Take just 5-10 minutes to stretch out your muscles again – they worked hard to help you win! Continue to stretch or even take a walk, allow the body to cool down before you sit down and stay sedentary.
6. Physical Therapy can help keep your body ready to go at all times! Physical therapy is a perfect place to help work on any weaknesses and build up strength and mobility to keep you playing as long as possible. Contact MedAmerica and start today!