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Pickleball has been the fastest-growing sport in America for each of the last 3 years. As millions of people of all ages pick up this sport for the time there are a whole host of physical and psychological benefits. As obesity continues to be a problem both in the United States and worldwide, pickleball provides an opportunity for people to increase their levels of physical activity. Pickleball is particularly popular among older adults, providing an opportunity to participate in competitive sports in ways that they may have left behind years ago. Like any new activity, one of the biggest barriers to continued participation is injury risk. For this reason, a robust warmup routine is important for sustainable participation in this sport. This article aims to outline a successful pickleball warmup that will help limit your risk of injury and keep you on the court.
The Goals of Warming Up
Pickleball has grown particularly popular among older adults ages 50 and above. In preparing to play, many in this group may think back to their youth sports or physical education days and plan to do some static stretching before going out to play. However, recent evidence has shown that static stretching does not decrease injury risk (1). Furthermore, stretching directly before participation in activity can lead to both a temporary and in some cases chronic reduction in strength and functional performance, two areas that play a large role in injury prevention (2).
Prevent Common Pickleball Injuries with this Warm-Up
Thus, our goal with warming up is not to get a good stretch or improve flexibility but rather to increase blood flow to the muscles that we will be using and prime those muscles to work when we need them on the court. This is best accomplished through a dynamic warmup.
A dynamic warmup will help increase your heart rate, blood flow, and body temperature, as well as your muscle's ability to fire more quickly this will help prepare you to handle the loads of a competitive pickleball match and reduce your risk of injury.
Common Pickleball Injuries
A retrospective database study evaluating injuries from 2015-2023 found that those most likely to be injured were males over 60 years old. They also found that a majority of these injuries did not need to be treated surgically. Most of these injuries were lower extremity injuries (56%) with ankle injuries being the most common (3).
Ankle sprains & Achilles tendon injuries were by far the most common injuries for those playing pickleball combining to account for 33% of the total injuries.
Psst to learn more about Achilles injuries, be sure to watch the above video!
The most common mechanism of injury was a sudden change of direction during the sport. A similar study that was performed using only an emergency department database identified strains and sprains as the highest prevalence of injuries with fractures a close second (4).
READ: WHAT TO DO AFTER AN ANKLE FRACTURE
The latter study may overstate the prevalence of fractures in the general population as those with a fracture are more likely to present to the emergency department. Their most common mechanism of injury was identified as a “slip/trip/fall/dive” combined category, which likely encompasses the sudden direction changes inherent to pickleball.
From this, we can say that we would want our warmup to prepare pickleballers for sudden change of direction, with a focus on their legs particularly in regards to their ankles and Achilles.
The Warm-Up Routine:
One of the benefits of pickleball is that it is a welcoming community that decreases barriers to physical activity for many. Thus, with our warmup routine, we do not want to spend more than 10-15 minutes at most getting ready to play as that would place an additional time constraint on players. Thus we want to select the exercises that would be most time efficient. This routine would include:
Air Squat: 2 sets of 8-12 reps: The king of all exercises, the air squat can be performed anywhere and is a whole body movement that prepares your entire lower half including glutes, hamstrings, quads, and core muscles. It also simulates the “ready position” that you should start in when preparing for a serve.
Exercise 01 of 05
Exercise demonstration
Air Squat
View exercise instructions
- HOW: Stand with your feet about shoulder-width apart. Keep both feet entirely on the ground throughout the movement. Place your hands in front of you about shoulder height to help counterbalance your weight. Hinge forward at the hips, and bend your knees as you sink your hips down. Bring them back up and repeat.
- FEEL: You should feel all of the thigh muscles and butt muscles working.
- COMPENSATION: Avoid letting the knees cave in or bow out. Keep equal weight distribution in both feet, and try not to let your hips shift left or right. Keep a neutral spine by keeping your core engaged to avoid having an over-arched or rounded back.
Shoulder Circles: 2x15-30sec : This classic upper body warmup still holds water today. While moving your arms through different ranges of motion you are also working the muscles of your back, rotator cuff, and deltoid to maintain their position against gravity. The intensity of the exercise can also be adjusted by keeping it easy with arms lower at your sides making it more difficult with arms straight out.
Exercise 02 of 05
Exercise demonstration
Shoulder Circle
View exercise instructions
- HOW: In a standing position, bring your arms up from your side to just below shoulder height(the lower your arms are the easier these will be). Move both arms in a circular motion as little or as big as you feel comfortable doing. Repeat this in a forward or backward motion for as many reps as prescribed.
- FEEL: You should feel your shoulder muscles working.
- COMPENSATION: Keep your back upright, don’t lean backwards or forwards.
Single leg RDL: 2x8-12 reps: This is a great exercise for balance, single-leg stability, and working the stabilizing muscles of your ankle. Knowing that ankle sprains are one of the primary injuries we aim to prevent this exercise is a great one for getting those muscles working.
Exercise 03 of 05
Exercise demonstration
Single Leg RDL
View exercise instructions
- HOW: In a standing position, shift your weight to one leg. Apply pressure through all of your foot and slightly bend that knee. Hinge forward at the waist while keeping your back flat and kick the opposite leg back. Pull yourself back to the starting position by pushing into the ground and using your glute and hip muscles to bring your back up straight again.
- FEEL: You should feel your hamstring muscles working as you hinge forwards and back up. You should also feel your foot/ankle muscles working to balance your leg while hinging forward.
- COMPENSATION: Keep your back flat as you hinge forward at the waist, don’t twist it. Keep your hips level, don’t twist them as you kick your leg back.
Pogos – Wall Support 2x15-30sec : This is a great way to get your heart rate up and start preparing you for the more reactive part of pickleball. Using the wall for support and simply having to land and repeat the action of bouncing back up includes some reactivity and also works your ankles, calves, and Achilles. You don’t need to go very high or even leave the ground the quick rebounding will help prepare you for the game!
Exercise 04 of 05
Exercise demonstration
Pogos - Wall Support
View exercise instructions
- HOW: Keeping your hands on the wall for balance, hop on both legs. Don’t allow your knee to collapse in, most of the motion should be coming from your ankles. Think of yourself as a rubber band or a spring loaded coil. Be bouncy!
- FEEL: You will feel the calf muscles working with this exercise.
- COMPENSATION: Do not let your ankle “roll out”. You should feel even pressure between the inside and outside of the balls of your foot. Don’t fully lock out your knees, have a slight bend as you hop up and down.
A Skip: 3x across the length of the court - The A skip is a great exercise to get your heart rate elevated to get the muscles of your legs warmed up and in particular get your calves and Achilles working to prepare them to play pickleball.
Exercise 05 of 05
Exercise demonstration
A skip
View exercise instructions
- HOW: Drive one knee up at a time while moving your opposite arm up with the knee. Add a slight hop with the leg on the ground and perform this going in a forward motion for the prescribed amount of reps. It is key to make sure you get the rhythm of each small hop as you drive the knee up. Work on control and then speed as you get better!
- FEEL: You should feel your leg muscles working, especially your calves and hip flexors.
- COMPENSATION: Stay in an upright position, don’t slouch your back forwards. Don’t twist your hips as you move forwards, focus your movement on driving the knee up with the added hop from the opposite leg.
Closing Thoughts:
Pickleball is the fastest-growing sport in the USA today. It is a great way for older adults to get involved in a welcoming community and make physical fitness and activity a more regular part of their schedule. It is a fun way to keep moving as you age. For this reason, we want to keep as many people on the pickleball court as possible and one of the best ways to do this is to limit the number of injuries. A proper warmup that elevates your heart rate, gets your muscles firing, and prepares your lower extremity for the sudden changes of direction involved in pickleball can be one of the best ways to do this. Spend 10-15 minutes using this pickleball warmup before your next game and let us know how it goes!
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References:
- Nuzzo JL. The Case for Retiring Flexibility as a Major Component of Physical Fitness. Sports Med. 2020;50(5):853-870. doi:10.1007/s40279-019-01248-w
- Barbosa GM, Trajano GS, Dantas GAF, Silva BR, Vieira WHB. Chronic Effects of Static and Dynamic Stretching on Hamstrings Eccentric Strength and Functional Performance: A Randomized Controlled Trial. J Strength Cond Res. 2020;34(7):2031-2039. doi:10.1519/J
- Opara OA, Brush PL, Pohl N, et al. Pickleball- and Paddleball-Related Injuries in the Lower Extremity: Description, Treatment Options, and Return to Play. Cureus. 2024;16(2):e53954. Published 2024 Feb 10. doi:10.7759/cureus.53954
- Weiss H, Dougherty J, DiMaggio C. Non-fatal senior pickleball and tennis-related injuries treated in United States emergency departments, 2010-2019. Inj Epidemiol. 2021;8(1):34. Published 2021 May 3. doi:10.1186/s40621-021-00327-9
Tommy Mandala
[P]rehab Writer & Content Creator
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Tommy Mandala is a Doctor of Physical Therapy, Board Certified Clinical Specialist in Sports & Orthopedics, and Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist in New York City. He is the founder of ALL IN ACL, a digital coaching platform dedicated exclusively to helping ACLers return to the life they had before their injury with full confidence in their knee. Prior to that, he worked in the sports clinic at Hospital for Special Surgery, the #1 Orthopedic Hospital in the country. While there, he had the opportunity to hone his skills as an ACL specialist working closely with world-renowned surgeons and evaluating patients from all over the world. He completed his sports residency training at the University of Delaware where he had opportunities to work with many of their Division I sports teams as well as the Philadelphia 76’ers NBA G-league affiliate, the Delaware Blue Coats. He also trained at Champion Sports Medicine in Birmingham, Alabama where he had the opportunity to learn from researchers in the American Sports Medicine Institute. Currently, Tommy works exclusively with ACLers through his digital coaching model. While many of these clients are athletes, Tommy works with ACLers of all different abilities helping them to build the strength they need to overcome this unique injury. One of his favorite aspects of his job is taking active clients who have never been a “gym person” before and showing them the amazing things that happen when they learn to strength train.