Pickleball takes no prisoners.
As participation in America’s fastest growing sport proliferates — 19.8 million people played in 2024, a 311% increase since 2021, per the Sports and Fitness Industry Association — so, too, do incidents of injury.
“Across the board, there’s an uptick,” Dr. James Gladstone, the chief of sports medicine at NYC’s Mount Sinai Health System, and an orthopedic consultant for the US Open, told The Post.
Doctors say the surge is driven not just by sheer numbers, but by the game’s demographics: quasi-fit retirees who play hours a day and weekend warriors who skip warm-ups and cool-downs to maximize their time on the court.
Injuries — such as Achilles ruptures, torn menisci, fractured wrists, elbow and shoulder ailments — typically come about either from falls or simple overuse.
“People tend to approach pickleball the same way they approach life, [with] a lot of passion, a lot of gusto,” said Gladstone. He points to studies like one published in the Orthopedic Journal of Sports Medicine in January 2025, which charted a 41% increase in pickleball-induced injuries between 2020 and 2021 alone.
Dr. Timothy Charlton, an orthopedic surgeon at Cedars-Sinai in Beverly Hills, Calif., said pickleball injuries have become so common, he hardly needs to look at a patient to diagnose them.
“If a 65-year-old woman comes in with an acute pickleball injury, it’s an Achilles rupture until proven otherwise,” he joked.
He believes it’s gotten a little out of hand.
“Pickleball is a drug,” Charlton told The Post. “Bone will be sticking out of the skin and the person who had the accident will be like, ‘Hey, doc, how long is this going to take to heal … how [long until I] can get back on the court?’”
In some cases, a passion for fashion — not just the game itself — is making things worse.
Dr. Michael Dakkak, an orthopedic surgeon at the Cleveland Clinic’s branch in Palm Beach, Fla., recalled a patient who was so focussed on having her paddle color match her shoe color that she neglected the basics of proper fit.
“She felt she didn’t perform as well when those things didn’t match,” he said with a sigh. The fashion-first approach left her with a knee arthritis flare-up after a marathon weekend tournament.
Charlton once treated a patient recovering from an Achilles tear who refused to wear the standard Velcro walking boot. Instead, she showed up for an appointment in YSL wedge heels. “Must have been three grand,” he said.
While it seemed absurd, the pricey shoes might have actually been helpful, inadvertently mimicking the same biomechanics of a medical boot.
“But, you know, I can’t recommend them because not everyone has three grand to shell out,” Charlton lamented.
Fancy footwear, aside, doctors note players can take simple steps to minimize injury.
Gladstone prescribes a basic maintenance program of stretching, strength work and cardio.
Dakkak insists on court shoes, not running shoes, no matter how chic, for better stability.
And Charlton tells patients to stay low and shuffle — never backpedal — so as to avoid the “false step” that has taken down NBA stars (Jayson Tatum, Tyrese Haliburton and Damian Lillard all suffered the injury during the 2025 basketball playoffs) and amateur pickleballers alike.
Injury prevention isn’t complicated, though it often runs counter to the way high performers approach the game: warm up, stay low and give your body time to recover and reset.
But, Gladstone’s key piece of advice is something that comes naturally to his high-octane patients: “Never take your eye off the ball.”
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