Pickleball Injuries: What I'm Seeing More of in Westchester
By Doug O'Connell, LMT | 27 Years Experience, 25,000+ Sessions | Westchester County, NY
Pickleball has taken over Westchester the last couple of years, and I've watched it happen from both sides — as a former competitive tennis player who's picked up a paddle himself, and as the in-home massage therapist people call when it doesn't go well. The injuries I'm seeing more of aren't what most players expect.
It's not just tennis elbow with a different name — it's a different set of demands on the body than tennis or paddle ever put on you, and a lot of players are stepping onto the court with the wrong assumptions about what it takes.
What's Actually Different About Pickleball
Plenty of players come to pickleball from tennis or platform tennis and assume the movement demands are basically the same, just on a smaller court. Just as many come in without much competitive sport background at all — pickleball's easy to pick up, which is exactly why so many people are playing it who haven't done this kind of quick, reactive movement before. Neither group is quite prepared for what the sport actually asks of the body.
Pickleball is shorter, faster, and more reactive than tennis — you're at the kitchen line dealing with quick exchanges that require sudden lateral movement and fast direction changes in a much tighter space than a tennis court. For sharper, more competitive players, that often shows up as short, hard sprints up to the kitchen line — fast for just a few steps, then a dead stop — over and over through a match.
That combination — quick cuts, sudden stops, a lot of reaching and lunging at the net — puts real strain on the calves, Achilles, and lower legs. It's also a sport a lot of people are picking up in their 40s, 50s, and 60s, often after years of not playing anything requiring that kind of quick, reactive footwork. The body doesn't get better at absorbing that kind of load just by waiting it out — pickleball asks for it constantly, for an hour or two at a time, whether the tissue is ready or not.
What I'm Seeing More Of
Achilles and calf strains are the big one — more than the elbow issues people expect from a paddle sport. I'm also seeing more shoulder and rotator cuff irritation from the overhead smash, and a fair amount of lower back tightness from the bent-over-ready position players hold at the net for long stretches.
None of these show up in isolation. A tight calf changes how you push off, which changes how your hip and low back compensate, which is why I don't just treat the spot that hurts — I look at the whole chain that got you there.
How I Actually Work With It
Timing matters as much as the specific injury. Before you play, the work should be vigorous — waking the tissue up, getting blood into it so it's actually ready to move. Right after a hard session, or right after something tweaks, it's the opposite: light work, focused on flushing the tissue and calming inflammation down. Deep work too soon after an acute strain fights against your body's own healing process instead of helping it. The real clearing-out work — getting into the adhesions and byproduct left behind, lengthening and releasing the muscle properly — happens a few days later, once the tissue's actually healed enough to handle it.
Skip that deeper work and it compounds. The byproduct from a hard match doesn't just clear itself out between games — it keeps binding up the tissue, session after session, until a calf that used to loosen up on its own by Tuesday just doesn't anymore.
What Helps Between Games
Most players already have some kind of warm-up. If yours is mostly a few arm swings and a practice serve, here's what to add:
Calf raises before you play. Two sets of 15, slow and controlled, to get blood into the calf and Achilles before you're sprinting to the kitchen line.
Ice the Achilles or calf after, not before. 15-20 minutes if it's sore or tight — same logic as any overworked tendon or muscle, and the right move in that immediate post-play window.
Doorway shoulder stretch if the smash is bothering you. Arm across a doorframe, gentle lean, 20-30 seconds. Won't fix a real rotator cuff issue, but it helps with general overhead tightness.
If you do nothing else, ice whatever's sore after you play. And if none of it happens — no warm-up, no ice, nothing between games — that's fine too. Not everyone's going to build a routine around a paddle sport, and that's exactly what I'm here for. Getting the work done on the table is its own form of taking care of it.
What To Expect
If you're dealing with a strain from pickleball, one session usually brings noticeable relief — but how much depends on how long you've been playing through it. Catch it early and one or two sessions can get you back to full movement. Play through it for a season and it usually takes a bit longer to unwind. It's also worth being honest that these patterns don't just resolve on their own as you get older — the body needs the actual release work, not just time.
If you're coming in before anything's hurt, that's the smarter move, and I work with a good number of Westchester pickleball players who treat sessions as maintenance rather than damage control. You can see the full range of what I offer on the services page.
If pickleball's caught up with your body and you're in Westchester, I come directly to your home with everything needed — whether you call it in-home, mobile, house-call, or outcall massage, it's the same idea: real therapeutic work, delivered where you actually are. No commute, no spa, no wasted time.
Call or text: (914) 523-0116 dougoconnelllmt.com
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