Pickleball is an extremely fast-growing sport due to its fun and social nature. While this sport is considered to be low-impact, making it great for the whole family, it does pose a risk for shoulder, elbow, and hand joint injuries. Understanding sports injuries is the best way to prevent them, so let’s discuss the most common injuries to these upper extremity joints.
Common Shoulder Injuries
To hit that perfect swing, your shoulder joint needs to work overtime. Here are some of the most common shoulder injuries in pickleball:
- Rotator Cuff Tear: The rotator cuff is a group of four muscles surrounding your shoulder joint, working to stabilize it and allow for movement. Repetitive overhead movements can overwork these muscles causing a tear.
- Shoulder Impingement: A shoulder impingement occurs when the shoulder blade pinches some of the muscles or tendons in your shoulder joint. This injury is often due to overuse of the shoulder joint in repetitive overhead movements, causing pain and inflammation.
Common Elbow Injuries
Like tennis, pickleball heavily relies on repetitive elbow joint movements, leaving it prone to injury. Here are a couple of the most common elbow injuries in pickleball:
- Pickleball Elbow: Medically known as lateral epicondylitis, pickleball or tennis elbow is an overuse injury affecting the muscles and tendons on the outside of the elbow joint. These tendons and muscles can become irritated due to the repetitive gripping and swinging of the paddle.
- Golfer’s Elbow: Although you will be playing pickleball, golfer’s elbow is still a risk. Also known as medial epicondylitis, this injury affects the muscles and tendons on the inside of the elbow. This is an overuse injury caused by repetitive motions resulting in a strain on these muscles and tendons.
Common Hand Injuries
During a game, you will constantly be gripping the paddle to ensure you hit your best serve, volley, or strike. You also may be trying to break your fall after a game-winning shot. Whichever the case, here are some of the most common hand injuries in pickleball:
- Wrist/Hand Spain: Your wrist and hand are made of a matrix of ligaments, holding all the bones together. A wrist or hand sprain occurs when these ligaments are stretched or torn due to overuse from gripping the paddle or blunt force, causing pain and swelling.
- Wrist/Hand Fracture: A fracture to the hand or wrist occurs when the bone breaks or cracks, most often due to a blunt force like a fall.
Understanding the types of injuries that can be sustained from playing pickleball is important so that you can take extra precautions to prevent them. If you are wanting to improve your pickleball game without the fear of injury, reach out to Dr. Shrouder-Henry for his expert sports medicine advice today!
AUTHOR: Jason Shrouder-Henry MD, MBA is a Board Certified and fellowship-trained orthopedic surgeon specializing in the hand, wrist, elbow and shoulder throughout Chicagoland.