December 14, 2023
Shoulder Health for Pickleball
By Noe Sariban, PT, DPT, Cert. DN, TPI MII, CPTP
Like most sports, pickleball requires mobility, stability, power, and agility combined with proper coordination and motor control to be successful. While pickleball continues to expand and the demographics are getting younger, most players are still over 55 years old. This has created an interesting situation that we’ve not seen too often: a physical activity that people are participating in more as they age (usually people tend to be less active as they get older). However, most pickleball players play multiple times a week, for several hours at a time! This, in turn, has led to an increase in injuries related to pickleball.
Therefore, focusing on injury prevention through adequate preparation, strengthening, and physical mobility should be at the top of the list for those looking to play for years to come. It has been found that after the age of 65, 80 percent of the population has some level of tearing in their rotator cuff musculature. Therefore, the shoulder is at great risk for injury, especially in a sport that requires upper extremity movement.
The shoulder is an interesting joint. It is necessary for great mobility. However, it can’t function properly without having concurrent stability. The shoulder and hip are often compared in sports medicine since both are “ball and socket” joints with great degrees of rotational mobility. But there is a significant difference: the hip joint socket is much deeper than the shoulder. Therefore, the hip has natural stability because the ball of the joint sits nicely in a deep “pocket.” The shoulder, however, has a very shallow socket, and therefore its stability comes primarily from soft tissue structures around it (connective tissue known as the capsule), and the musculature surrounding the joint.
Maintaining mobility of the shoulder is imperative in order to reach overhead, as well as to hit most shots in pickleball. In addition to good mobility, developing and maintaining proper strength and muscle balance around the shoulder joint will not only help in hitting the ball with more power, but will also ensure a lower injury risk over time.
As pickleball utilizes the shoulder heavily for most shots (dinks, drives, volleys, and overheads), focusing our attention on shoulder health should be at the top of the list for most players! Consulting a qualified doctor of physical therapy to have your shoulder thoroughly evaluated would be a great place to start in order to develop an individualized program for your shoulder as it applies to pickleball.
If you’d like to learn more about this, you can email thepickleballdoctor@gmail.com. The Pickleball Doctor is the owner of Move It Physical Therapy in Chapel Hill, NC. Free 10-minute consults are available to see if it’s a good fit, and virtual sessions are available if you are not in the area. •
Noe Sariban is a doctor of physical therapy and owner of Move It Physical Therapy in Chapel Hill, NC. He is known as The Pickleball Doctor and is a certified pickleball teaching professional through the IPTPA, and part of professional player Ben Johns’ team. Noe has a physical therapy business as well as a pickleball coaching business. If you’d like to register for camps or lessons, contact thepickleballdoctor@gmail.com.
