Dr. Soppe interviewed on common causes of pickleball injuries
Article attachment link: Pickleball – JOAA
Pickleball has taken the United States, Australia, and, well, the world by storm, making the sport a compelling topic for this column even though I
haven’t played it myself. In the US alone, participation increased 52% between 2022 and 2023, to 13.6 million players. And, in Canada, several
cities have emerged as pickleball hotspots, including Kelowna and Victoria, two small cities in British Columbia, and Toronto, capital of Ontario and Canada’s largest city, to name a few. What’s more, players ages 55 and up were the largest age bracket of pickleball players in 2021,
comprising 19.8% of total US participants, recent statistics show. But all that participation, while mostly beneficial for people of all ages, also comes with some cautions for older players. Let’s look at the current pickleball landscape for active-aging settings.
What’s the draw? Widely described as a combination of tennis, badminton and ping pong, pickleball is played with a paddle and a plastic ball on a smaller court than tennis. Experts attribute its rapid popularity to factors such as the ease of play, the low cost of entry and the social aspects of the sport, according to a recent article on CNBC online. Pickleball can be learned quickly—often in just a few lessons—and players can find tournaments at varying competitive levels. Cost is also a factor; pickleball generally is more affordable than tennis or golf.
But Clint Soppe, MD, a California orthopedic surgeon and sports medicine specialist at Cedars-Sinai Kerlan-Jobe Institute, Los Angeles, told the Journal on Active Aging® that the number-one reason for the surging participation is simple: “It’s fun!” Soppe, who also consults for the LA Galaxy professional men’s soccer club, says, “From a skill level perspective, compared to tennis (which I play regularly), people can improve very quickly in pickleball and start competing. It’s also a great way to get involved with a community of all different ages,” he continues. “The social benefits have been particularly strong coming out of the pandemic. And of course, it gets people active, moving, and exercising.”
Soppe’s patients are more likely to be consistently active when they’re engaged in pickleball. “One of the most difficult things for people of all ages is finding a sport or an activity they will be consistent with,” he observes. “Many times, they’ll get on an exercise program at the start of the year, stay with it for a couple of months, then lose interest. That’s unlikely to happen with pickleball.” Soppe explains, “Here in California, I have patients who play outdoors most of the time, all year round. But I grew up in Texas, where it gets very hot in the summer, and we had large indoor facilities that were packed with people having a lot of fun.”
Read full article in this attachment above.
