Stay in the Game! Understanding and Preventing Common Padel Injuries
Padel, a dynamic and engaging racquet sport, is growing in popularity. However, its high-intensity demands can make players susceptible to various injuries.
This blog post will guide you through understanding common padel injuries and how effective warm-ups and exercises can help prevent them.
Understanding Common Padel Injuries
Padel involves a range of movements such as lateral, forward, backward, rotational, and overhead shots, which can lead to musculoskeletal injuries. These injuries often affect the muscles, bones, tendons, ligaments, and joints. They can be categorized into acute injuries (e.g., sprains, strains, fractures) caused by trauma, and overuse injuries (e.g., tendinopathy, stress fractures) resulting from repetitive stress.
Common Injury Sites:
Ankle
Knee
Lower Back
Shoulder
Elbow
Risk Factors for Padel Injuries
1- Unsuitable Equipment: Using a racket that is too heavy or has an improperly sized grip can expose the wrist, elbow, and shoulder.
2- Improper Technique: Poor technique can lead to overloading joints and tissues, increasing injury risk.
3- Excessive Training Load: Excessive training without proper rest can cause both acute and chronic injuries.
4- Fatigue and Poor Physical Condition: Lack of conditioning can make it hard to handle the sport's demands.
5- Incomplete Warm-Up: Skipping a warm-up can lead to decreased flexibility, slower reaction times, and poor movement coordination.
6- Muscle Weakness and Movement Limitation: Weak stabilizing and core muscles can impair movement patterns, raising injury risk. Limited joint range of motion restricts mobility, making movements more strenuous and prone to strains or sprains.
Preventing Padel Injuries
Use Proper Equipment
Choose the right racket with appropriate weight and grip size.
·Wear suitable footwear that supports quick movements and directional changes.
Improve your Technique
Consider registering for padel classes to learn optimal techniques and reduce injury risk.
Monitor your Training Load
Monitor your training load using tools like the Acute:Chronic Workload Ratio (ACWR).
Improve your Physical Abilities
Incorporate unilateral strength training, shoulder rotations, core stability exercises, and plyometric training into your routine.
Introduce Effective Warm-Up
Use our warm-up videos to prepare your body for the game. A proper warm-up enhances flexibility, muscle activation, and coordination.
Check out our free YouTube video playlist :
Injury Prevention - Injury Rehabilitation
Injury prevention aims to prevent pain or injury from occurring or reoccurring. If you have already sustained an injury or are experiencing significant pain, what you need is not prevention, but a proper diagnosis and appropriate rehabilitation.
Use the expertise of a sports medicine professional or physiotherapist to identify early signs of potential problems
Special Focus : Tennis Elbow
Lateral Epicondylitis (Tennis Elbow)
Tendinopathy is a clinical syndrome characterized by pain, diffuse or localized swelling, and impaired performance.
The cause is the high stress on the affected area and the continuous concentric and eccentric contractions of the forearm muscles.
Lateral epicondylitis is due to repetitive wrist movements and vibrations from hitting the ball and more commonly affects novice players than professional or elite-level players.
CAUSES
INADEQUATE TECHNIQUE
Recreational players are more likely to hit their backhand strokes with their wrists in a more flexed position, while elite level players increase wrist extension just prior to ball contact.
INAPPROPRIATE EQUIPMENT
In addition to repetitive movements, one of the most common causes of the development of this injury are the vibrations generated when the player hits the ball and reaching the elbow through the arm.
EXCESSIVE TRAINING LOAD
Amateur players often increase their playing time without gradually conditioning their muscles and tendons to handle the strain. This sudden increase in training intensity or frequency can lead to overuse, causing inflammation and pain in the elbow tendons.
INADEQUATE WARM-UP
Without a proper warm-up routine, the muscles and tendons around the elbow may not be sufficiently prepared for the repetitive strain that comes with padel, leading to the onset of padel elbow.
Use our free 5 Minutes Wrist and Elbow Warm-up Routine :
Conclusion
Padel offers many health benefits but also comes with injury risks.
Understanding these risks and implementing prevention strategies is crucial to enjoy the game safely and improve performance.
By choosing the right equipment, learning proper techniques, managing training loads, maintaining good physical condition, and use efficient warm-up routine you can stay in the game and minimize injury risks.
Stay proactive about injury prevention,
and make the most of your padel journey!
Sources :
Muñoz, D., Coronado, M., Robles-Gil, M. C., Martín, M., & Escudero-Tena, A. (2022). Incidence of Upper Body Injuries in Amateur Padel Players. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(24), 16858. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192416858​:contentReference[oaicite:0]{index=0}
Dahmen, J., Emanuel, K. S., Fontanellas-Fes, A., Verhagen, E., Kerkhoffs, G. M. M. J., & Pluim, B. M. (2023). Incidence, prevalence and nature of injuries in padel: A systematic review. BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine, 9, e001607. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjsem-2023-001607​:contentReference[oaicite:1]{index=1}
Demeco, A., de Sire, A., Marotta, N., Spanò, R., Lippi, L., Palumbo, A., ... & Ammendolia, A. (2022). Match Analysis, Physical Training, Risk of Injury and Rehabilitation in Padel: Overview of the Literature. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(7), 4153. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19074153​:contentReference[oaicite:2]{index=2}
Cocco, G., Ricci, V., Corvino, A., Abate, M., Vaccaro, A., Bernabei, C., ... & Delli Pizzi, A. (2024). Musculoskeletal disorders in padel: From biomechanics to sonography. Journal of Ultrasound, 27, 335–354. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40477-023-00869-2​:contentReference[oaicite:3]{index=3}
