If you play Pickleball and are starting to experience pain in your elbow area related to playing, look out! You may be coming down with a case of “Pickleball Elbow!”
It’s no joke!… I just did a Skype consultation this morning with one of my student members who plays Pickleball in Arizona (where the sport is apparently VERY popular) and he told me that half the people he plays with are having elbow pain!
Well, maybe not HALF – but a significant number of Pickleball players are either walking wounded, all wrapped up in braces or bands – or dropping out of matches left and right.
Why so many? One theory, proposed by my student-member is that the vibrations involved in hitting a hard, plastic Pickleball, with the paddle used in the game, are considerably more intense than the vibrations involved in hitting a tennis ball with a tennis racket.
And that seems like a good working theory to me! (I also notice that the volleys seem a lot faster than in tennis – There’s less running around, it’s more upper-body focused and the players are a lot closer together – so there are a lot more repetitions involved.)
What Are The Symptoms Of Pickleball Elbow?
The most common symptom is burning pain at the inner or outer elbow area, which can feel like that little bony knob (the Medial or Lateral Epicondyle) is literally “on fire!” Other major symptoms include:
- Burning pain on the outside of the elbow
- And/or burning pain at the inner elbow
- Occasional sharp twinges of pain at either location (from the tendons, usually)
- Tension, weakness and soreness in the muscles of the forearm (either side)
- Stiffness, achiness and soreness in those areas upon waking every morning
Read the full article on Pickleball Elbow and find out what to do about it here
(Originally published on: https://tenniselbowclassroom.com )
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