In a quiet residential pocket in the south of Bangalore, a group of senior citizens form a circle in the apartment car parking lot and perform a set of stretching routines.
One of them cracks a joke about poor Ramakrishna (name changed) breaking his forearm and the group breaks into spontaneous laughter.
It is five in the evening and the action appears quite natural of a senior’s club in the apartment.
A closer look, however, reveals lines for what is clearly a court of some sort and when the men tie a makeshift net and pull out their paddle, it becomes all too apparent.
The seniors are out for a game of pickleball.
And the joke was about a friend in the group that is currently nursing an injury sustained while playing the sport.
Nuances ignored
Pickleball has well and truly captured the imagination of sports lovers in the country.
Its easy to play and passes off a great form of recreation, whilst offering exercise of some degree.
What’s more, when parking lots in apartments can be turned into courts, the problem of accessibility is solved in a jiffy.
And now, the sport has gone mainstream as well.
Earlier this year, a sports promotion company announced a plan to invest over $10 million in a global league that will unfold in the country.
There is one hurdle though, that of injuries to players, mostly to the ones that play the sport as a source of recreation.
Ramakrishna fell face down when lunging to retrieve a harmless ‘dink’.
Bending low and unable to arrest his momentum, his forearm hit the concrete causing a fracture.
While injuries are a part of every sport that involves movement, the case of pickleball is a rather peculiar.
“Pickleball is similar to tennis in many ways, minus the overhead component, however the smaller surface area of the paddle in proportion to the hardness and larger surface area of the ball are a perfect combination that require higher effort for similar gains,” says Dr. Harini Muralidharan, a sports physician, in an email exchange with The Bridge.
And the ‘higher effort’ is precisely one of the drivers for injuries, more so, when the players in question are not necessarily trained athletes.
“Firstly, a large population of pickleball players in our country are recreational athletes, meaning they don’t have prior training histories. Also, these are a population that live an otherwise sedentary life except for the regular gym sessions in some cases,” says Dr. Muralidharan.
And when individuals that are otherwise less active begin playing a sport such as pickleball without understanding the nuances, injuries are but a natural outcome.
Prevention is easy
A 2021 study revealed that older people are more vulnerable to pickleball-related injuries.
In fact, the American media reported that between 2010-2019, 86% of all visits to hospital emergency rooms were brought about by pickleball injuries to people that were over 60 years of age.
Fractures, strains, lacerations and sprains were the most common forms of injuries.
So common are the injuries that in 2023, analysts predicted that pickleball injuries could well cost the American population $377 million in health care costs.
What’s more, several companies in the US are now offering pickleball insurance plans so players can insulate themselves from spiraling medicals bills in the eventuality of an injury.
While the situation may not be that grave here in India, with the popularity surging, exercising caution is perhaps ideal.
So, what can recreational players do to keep injuries at bay, quizzed this writer.
“Understand the nuances of the sport played,” suggests Dr. Muralidharan, while adding that it is vital to ‘understand the required warm up techniques and other fitness requirements before playing aggressively.’
According to the physician, warmups should not be taken for granted.
“A good warm up routine is of paramount importance. Focused fitness, knee and shoulder related, overall cardiac fitness.”
And if an injury were to occur, the right diagnosis and a methodical rehab program are a must.
“As with all injuries, timely diagnosis, a balance between rest and activity based on injury intensity (keeping in mind that fractures are most common) and a functional return to sport rehab program can help in most cases.”
So, they next time you head out to play a game of pickleball or any sport for that matter, injury-prevention should perhaps rank high on the list in addition to emerging victorious at the end of the game.