How to prevent pickleball injuries: advice from sports doctors
Short answer: Yale Medicine sports doctors recommend a 5-10 minute dynamic warm-up, easing into the sport, and stopping to rest when tired. The injuries they see most are strains and sprains, including ankle sprains, knee ligament injuries, tennis elbow, Achilles tendonitis and rotator cuff inflammation.
This article is general information drawn from published medical advice. It is not personal medical guidance. See a clinician for pain that persists.
What goes wrong
Yale Medicine reports a 90-fold increase in pickleball-related fractures from 2002 to 2022, with most occurring in players aged 60-69, citing a recent study. Orthopaedic surgeon Andrew Jimenez says the injuries he sees most are muscle and tendon strains and sprains, including knee ligaments, tennis elbow, ankle sprains, Achilles tendonitis and rotator cuff inflammation. Overuse injuries can happen at any age.
Warm up properly
Dr Jimenez recommends five to ten minutes of warm-up to raise body temperature and blood flow. He prefers dynamic movements such as lunges, wide arm circles and knee lifts over holding static stretches before play, and suggests a short easy jog or 30 seconds of jumping jacks. Light static stretching and a slow walk fit the cool-down.
Ease in and rest
Dr Jim Hsu notes the sport can seem casual because you need no preparation, but the strain on the body is not casual. He advises not playing too much, too fast, too soon. Dr Jimenez says to take a break when fatigued, since playing to exhaustion makes injury or a fall more likely.
The American Medical Association has also published advice from doctors on preventing pickleball injuries, linked below.
Sources
Sources checked 14 Oct 2026. Header photo: Two players in a mixed doubles pickleball match indoors, by SET04SARAH2024, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
