Pickleball Looks Easy. Your Body Has Some Notes.

Walk past any park in Portland these days and you will hear it. That distinctive plastic clack of a paddle on a ball, followed by laughter, mild trash talk, and someone yelling “kitchen!” Pickleball has officially gone from something your retired neighbor told you about to the fastest growing sport in the country. It is fun, it is social, and you can be reasonably good at it within a couple of weeks.

Here is the part nobody puts on the brochure: at our clinic, we are seeing a steady wave of pickleball injuries walk through our doors. Ankles, calves, elbows, shoulders, and the occasional dramatic story involving a wrist and a backwards lunge.

The good news? Most of these injuries are very preventable.

The Three Injuries We See on Repeat

1. Rolled ankles.

Pickleball asks your feet to do a lot of stopping, starting, and pivoting in tight spaces. The court is small, the kitchen line keeps pulling you forward, and the next thing you know you are planting your foot at a strange angle to chase down a dink. The ligaments on the outside of the ankle take the brunt. Ankle sprains are the single most common lower body pickleball injury in the research.

2. Achilles tendon trouble.

This is the unofficial signature injury of pickleball, and it does not always announce itself with a warning. Sometimes it shows up as a gradual ache in the back of the heel. Sometimes it is a dramatic snap mid rally that sends someone straight to surgery. The reason it gets injured so often is simple: rapid acceleration and deceleration loads the calf and Achilles eccentrically, which is biomechanics speak for “your tendon is being asked to act like a brake while stretched out.” Achilles repair is actually the most common surgery among pickleball injuries.

3. Pickleball elbow.

Same condition as tennis elbow, rebranded. The repetitive grip and snap of every stroke irritates the tendons on the outside of your elbow. The biggest culprit? A death grip on the paddle. A 2025 study found that players who keep a tight baseline grip are nearly three times more likely to develop an acute upper extremity injury. The paddle is not trying to escape. You can relax your hand.

The Warm-Up That Could Save Your Season

Here is what nobody wants to hear. That 10 second hamstring stretch and the half-hearted arm circles you see people doing courtside? Not doing much. The research is clear that dynamic warm-ups are far more protective than static stretching, and a real warm-up takes about five minutes.

Try this before your first match.

1. Light cardio, one minute. Jog the perimeter or march in place with big arm swings.

2. Leg swings, ten each direction per leg. Front to back, then side to side. Use the net post for balance.

3. Walking lunges with an overhead reach, ten total. Hits the hips, ankles, calves, and mid back all at once.

4. Lateral shuffles, twenty seconds each direction. The exact movement that tends to hurt you, rehearsed at low intensity.

5. Slow calf raises, fifteen reps. Direct deposit for your Achilles.

6. Arm circles and cross body shoulder swings, fifteen each. Wakes up the rotator cuff before that first overhead.

7. Loose paddle swings, thirty seconds. Forehand, backhand, dink. Easy grip.

Do this and your first game will not also be your warm-up. Your body will thank you. Possibly out loud.

Listen to Your Body Like It Is Telling the Truth

Most of the pickleball injuries we treat have a backstory that sounds something like, “Well, my elbow has been a little weird for about three weeks, but I figured it would just go away.” It usually does not. Pain and stiffness are your body’s way of telling you something is being asked to do more than it can currently handle, and the earlier you catch it, the simpler the fix.

That nagging tightness in your calf, the elbow that twinges on backhands, the shoulder that feels stiff every Sunday morning, all of it is worth paying attention to. None of it has to turn into the bigger thing.

Come See Us

At Active Living Chiropractic, we treat the whole movement pattern, not just the spot that hurts. We use cold laser therapy, therapeutic ultrasound, hands-on soft tissue work, and chiropractic adjustments to address the root cause, then build you a return-to-play plan that does not land you back in our clinic three weeks later.

If something is not feeling right, do not wait it out. Book your appointment at our Beaverton or Hillsboro location, and let us help you stay on the court.