Pickleball Maxxing - Make the Most out of Pickleball
Pickleball was invented in 1965 in Washington, USA. There were originally 3 creators, who came together to invent an activity for the entire family. They started with a badminton court, ping-pong paddles, and a perforated plastic ball. The early rules were based off badminton. The first pickleball specific court was built in 1967 in Seattle at one of the inventors homes. The first tournament was held in 1976 after the first pickleball corporation was established in 1972. The name pickleball actually has two competing origin stories. One that Joan Pritchard (one of the inventors) compared the mixed sport nature of the game to pickle boat, and the other from Barney McCallum (one of the other inventors) saying the game was named after Pritchard’s dog Pickles who would chase the ball.
What makes pickleball different? Well, one of the first things is that the court is smaller than a tennis court. This means short accelerations and decelerations, lots of lateral movements, lunges, changes in direction as well as of course repeated upper body strokes as you hit the ball. Also, because of the kitchen (7 ft from the net of a non-volley zone), players end up moving around the transitional zone adjacent to the kitchen.
A 2026 systematic review looking at injuries from pickleball found mostly sprains and strains. Injuring your achilles tendon or rolling your ankle seem to be quite up there with what is common from pickleball. Risk factors for injuries like these would be things like not warming up, history of past injuries not fully recovered, or even age plays a factor. The rapid change in direction requires a lot of elastic potential from our tendons and ligaments so you can see how they also need to be warm and prepped for this type of movement. Even swinging your racket requires your shoulder, torso, and arm to be warmed and ready for athletic movement.
A 2024 review looked at all of the benefits from pickleball. These included:
physical fitness benefits
health benefits
social benefits
psychological benefits
There may be some risk involved, but remember that all physical activity carries risk, so we should make sure we are ready and in the right state of body and mind, but also remember that we’re doing this for the benefits, of which there are many!
Now that we’ve dove a bit deeper into what pickleball is and how it makes it unique, let’s look at what we can do to make the most of our pickleball games!
Before doing an activity like Pickleball, you should warm up your body. Aside from doing something with a cardiovascular component like stairs or jumping or walking briskly to get your ankles and knees warmed up for those quick changes in direction, it is also good to target some upper body muscles with some mobility work. Today we are going to focus on your lats, otherwise known as latissimus dorsi. You can think of lats as your handcuff muscle because they extend and internally rotate your shoulder like when you are getting handcuffs put on. We are going to build on that movement with our racket.
To do this exercise, take the racket and pass it behind your back, then grab over your head and lean to the side. From there, reverse this motion and keep going side to side for a few reps.
Often with pickleball you are rotated out of a game or two so other people can play. During this time instead of just sitting until it’s your turn again, we are going to stay active with a wall sit. You can choose a bit higher like a stool or a bit lower for more of a challenge.
My recommendation is to do your wall sit and then add some marching or knee-to-chest stretches. This will keep you engaged but still provide the rest you need.
Finally, once you are done playing, you may want to cool down. If you are sitting once the game is done to catch your breath, why not tack on some mobility work for your hips.
For this you are going to cross one foot over your other knee, but the key component is to lean in all three directions. Start with leaning forward and holding here as you breath slowly, like a yoga breath. From there, you can also stretch on an angle toward your knee or towards your foot, holding theses positions as well. Because the glute muscles are more triangular in shape, by leaning on different angles you will be targeting different tissues.
If you are experiencing aches and pains from playing pickleball or you want to do some prep work to get ready for your pickleball season, check in with your chiropractor to get both a rehab plan but also some manual therapy. Feeling confident and physically ready will allow you to focus on the joy and social side of pickleball. Let your healthcare team take the lead on any of your worries and just go out and get active and have fun!
