“Sports like pickleball and other activities that involve repetitive actions, as well as those that involve sudden movements that can lead to falls, can often result in shoulder injuries like rotator cuff tears, shoulder dislocations, and overuse injuries such as tendonitis,” says Frederick Song, MD, a board certified orthopaedic surgeon on the Medical Staff of Penn Medicine Princeton Health. “They can occur at any age, especially with excessive training and playing.”
Dr. Song recommends including a regular muscle-strengthening routine in your exercise regime, as well as exercises to improve balance and strengthen your core, to help reduce the likelihood of a shoulder injury or a fall that could result in one.
When to Seek Immediate Medical Attention
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A Wide Range of Treatments
“If an injury does occur, treatment often does not require surgery,” says Dr. Song. “Cortisone injections, physical therapy, and activity modification are the mainstays of non-operative treatment. Seeing a doctor promptly for an evaluation is important, since you can cause more damage without proper treatment. For example, a small partial tear usually can be treated non-operatively, but continued use without medical guidance can result in a more serious tear that may then require surgery.”
Should surgery be needed, most procedures, even shoulder replacements, usually are done minimally invasively, which results in less discomfort following surgery and quicker healing. Most patients go home the same day as their procedure.
“Our goal, and usually the patient’s goal, is to get them back out on the court, or doing whatever activities they enjoy, as soon as possible,” says Dr. Song. “That is important, because in addition to the physical benefits of activities like pickleball, there are social components that are just as important to your health.”