CSRI Pickleball

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New sport, same repetitive motion injuries. Pickleball joins chiropractors watch list.

How popular is pickleball? According to USA Pickleball, nearly 4.3 million Americans play regularly. Of that total, approximately 67 percent are 55 years old or older. If you just started playing, pickleball shares some of the same injuries associated with other racket and repetitive motion sports like tennis and golf. And that’s put it on the watch list for many Rhode Island chiropractors.

“While the pickleball court may be smaller, you can still be prone to the lower back, hip, knee, and ankle injuries as a result of strain or overuse while on the pickleball courts—even if you’re playing doubles,” said Dr. Kristin Kolesar Fabris, president of the Chiropractic Society of Rhode Island and a chiropractor at Be Well Chiropractic in Providence, Rhode Island. “The size of the court can also mislead players into thinking they might not need to put the same effort into warm-ups and cool downs that they would for other sports.”

Continued Dr. Kolesar Fabris, “Pickleball requires just as much warmup as those other sports. Perhaps even more as the muscles used in pickleball are a bit different than other activities—besides tennis, of course.”

So, how can you play pickleball and avoid injury? There are some steps you can take.

Know your limits. If you start to feel sore or pain, walk off the court.

If you’re new to the game or been less active over the previous few months, go easy to start and build endurance slowly. Also, don’t throw yourself into competitive games right away. Make your first few outings time to volley and acclimate to the sport.

Of course, you want to warm up before playing. That can be as simple as a brisk walk, squats, or jumping jacks, then begin with some low-intensity play.

Be especially careful when playing up a level—against opponents with more experience; it’s an easy way to get into trouble.

“It’s important to listen to your body. If you’re feeling pain or soreness beyond a few days, it’s time to seek professional help with a chiropractor,” said Dr. Kolesar Fabris.

If you are not currently seeing a chiropractor and want to explore how chiropractic can help, you can utilize the “Find A Doctor” feature on the Chiropractic Society of Rhode Island’s website, www.richiro.org.

About Chiropractic Society of Rhode Island (CSRI)

Founded in 1918, CSRI is one of the oldest chiropractic associations in the United States and represents almost half of the chiropractic physicians in the Ocean State. In addition to providing a regional voice for chiropractors in the business and legislative arenas, CSRI also helps educate the general public on the benefits of chiropractic. Those all-natural benefits can include relief from headaches, asthma, osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, carpal tunnel, colic, and stress, just to name a few. The Chiropractic Society of Rhode Island is located at 1272 West Main Road, Building 2, Middletown, RI 02842. For more information, call (401) 207-0700 or visit www.RIchiro.org.

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