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Physical therapists seeing more pickleball injuries as the sport gains popularity

Since the sport earned the title of the fastest growing sport in America, physical therapists are treating more injuries related to the sport for first-time players.

AUSTIN, Texas — As pickleball increases in popularity, the number of injuries from the sport is also increasing.

"It's good for all ages, so you see people who haven't played in a while or haven't participated in a sport kind of hop in a little bit too fast without preparing, and that's when injuries are more likely to occur,” said Ryan Ylanan, a physical therapist at Texas Physical Therapy Specialists (TexPTS).

Ylanan said the most common pickleball injuries physical therapists see are ankle injuries, knee ligament damage and shoulder and elbow injuries.

"A lot of it's going to be overuse injuries for people who haven't had any experience with racket sports,” Ylanan said.

Because pickleball is easier to pick up than other sports, Ylanan said he sees a lot of his patients spending hours without leaving the courts. Lifelong tennis player and now pickleball player Tyler Cox said that he gets sucked in to spending hours on the court.

"You'll feel the effects if you aren't adequately warmed up and stretched,” Cox said. “As you go into hour two, hour three, you'll see injuries start to pop up."

Cox said when they play community games, they have a habit of treating the first match as a warm-up game, which means they’re spending even more time playing on the courts.

"I have patients who say they played about three or four hours every day or even the weekend without even noticing it," Ylanan said. "And they always have one more set, one more match they want to play because it does get highly competitive as well."

When injuries occur, Ylanan said the most important thing is to rest, but keep the mobility of the injured area. Once it’s mobile, he said the next step is to work towards slowly regaining strength in that area before heading back out to the courts.

And for those wanting to give pickleball a try, Ylanan said the most important thing to remember is to ease into the sport and listen to your body.

“The No. 1 thing is just not to hop into it so quickly and get into a very high competitive state if you haven't played before,” Ylanan said.

If you're not sure if you're physically ready to play pickleball, TexPTS offers a screening process to determine your activity level and see what kind of sports you can prepare for.

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