The neighborly pitch to bring people into the pickleball craze has been simple.
Players just need an open space, a net, a ball, and pair of paddles — and they can play for hours. There's less movement than what is needed in tennis, and really, as the New York Times wrote last September, "anyone can play."
That simple pitch may be coming at a price. In a recent research note, UBS analysts estimated $250 million to $500 million in medical costs attributable to pickleball in 2023. The sport could even be contributing to an uptick in outpatient surgeries among seniors, they said, in addition to factors like a procedure backlog built up in the pandemic and the removal of mask requirements.
So how did what seems like a harmless sport suddenly become a potential culprit behind higher healthcare costs in America?
"Pickleball was almost too easy to play," Dr. Joshua Dines, an orthopedic surgeon who specializes in sports medicine and shoulder surgery at the Hospital for Special Surgery, told Yahoo Finance. "So people that hadn't done anything in years, this was kind of their entrance back into sport, and maybe [they] weren't ready for it."
It's about who's playing
Dines, like many Americans, has been swept up in the pickleball wave. His bio on the HSS website — highlighted by roles as a team doctor for the New York Mets, New York Rangers, and the Los Angeles Dodgers — now also includes "Medical Director for Major League Pickleball."
And while he's seen an increasing number of patients with pickleball-related injuries, he doesn't believe that's a symptom of the sport being more dangerous than others he's worked closely with, like baseball, hockey, and tennis. It's about who's playing it.
As UBS points out, pickleball is projected to grow from 3.5 million players in 2019 to an estimated 22.3 million players at the end of 2023. And the majority of injuries from that growing pool of players come from people over 60 years old, per UBS, which cites a 2021 study using data from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS).
Dines said that while pickleball is considered a low-impact sport, there is still repetitive shoulder motion and side-to-side movement that could aggravate an existing injury, particularly in a person who hasn't been overly active.
"If we got MRIs on everyone over the age of 60, a lot of them would have some degree of meniscus tearing that may not be symptomatic, and then all the sudden you tweak your knee," Dines said. "And whether that's hiking or walking or playing pickleball, now you've got a meniscus tear that's symptomatic and needs treatment."
To be sure, it's not just seniors getting injured, either. Just last week Dines saw three clients in their late 20s or early 30s. All had pickleball injuries.
"Like all physical activity, pickleball is a sport in which there is the possibility of injury, but not an inherently excessive risk," USA Pickleball, the governing body of the sport, told Yahoo Finance in a statement. "There are numerous benefits to stepping on the pickleball court as part of a healthy, fit, active lifestyle, but USA Pickleball encourages all players to consistently monitor their physical wellbeing."
Dines acknowledges that doing any sporting activity for three to four hours can lead to injury.
Golf still puts added torque on a player's back and can lead to overuse injuries. Tennis is faster-paced and can lead to similar tripping injuries like pickleball.
So, while $500 million in injuries can seem eye-popping, it's perhaps more a symptom of the growth in pickleball popularity than anything else.
Josh Schafer is a reporter for Yahoo Finance.
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