Pickleball has taken over North County. The courts at Pointsettia Park, Melba-Bishop, and club facilities in Carlsbad and Vista are full, and so are our intake forms with pickleball-related injuries. It’s not that pickleball is unusually dangerous. It’s that it’s played primarily by people 45 and older who are returning to explosive, repetitive activity after years of lower intensity exercise.
Lateral elbow pain: pickleball’s signature injury
Elbow tendinopathy is by far the most common pickleball injury we treat. The dink shot involves a very specific wrist extension loading pattern at low velocity. Repeated hundreds of times per session, this creates cumulative stress at the lateral epicondyle. Standard elbow stretching and rest might help temporarily, but it’s like putting a band-aid on the problem instead of fixing the root cause. Addressing the mid-back weakness that’s overloading the forearm, and using StemWave for the tendon tissue if it’s been chronic, is what actually resolves it.
Knee pain
The lateral cuts and direction changes create significant demands on the knee. We see patellar tendinopathy, IT band irritation, and patellofemoral pain syndrome regularly in pickleball players. All three require an assessment that looks at hip strength and ankle mobility, not just the knee itself.
Shoulder injuries
The overhead smash and the drive require shoulder stability under a fast load. Players who have any shoulder weakness or scapular dysfunction tend to accumulate rotator cuff irritation over a pickleball season. We assess the full shoulder kinetic chain and build a program that makes the shoulder resilient enough for the demands of the game.
Achilles and calf
Explosive starts and quick direction changes place sudden load on the Achilles and calf complex. Players in their 50s and 60s are at real risk of Achilles tendinopathy. Progressive calf loading and load management are the foundation. StemWave is particularly useful when the tendon has been symptomatic for more than a few months.
At Land and Sea PT in Oceanside, we work with pickleball players all the time. If an injury is keeping you off the court, come in for an assessment.
If you want to contact us or book an appointment, check our business profile page.
Dr. Jonny Blue is a Doctor of Physical Therapy and founder of Land and Sea Physical Therapy in Oceanside, CA. He specializes in orthopedic PT, root cause methodology, and helping active adults in North County San Diego get back to the activities they love without surgery or pain medication.