We begin 2026 with a special series – on injury and fitness in pickleball. We welcome Dr Coach Kelli to share her expertise as a sports coach, physio and a pickleball player!
Pickleball attracts lots of folk who maybe played tennis or badminton and find themselves too injured to do that at high level now – we asked Kelli: what makes pickleball a good alternative? And is it dangerous to think of it as “safe” and less physically challenging?
Anybody who plays a racquet sport is likely to live 10 healthy years longer than people who do no physical activity as they get older.
So, if you’re out there playing a racquet sport, good on you. Keep doing it. If that means you’ve got to switch from tennis to pickleball or from badminton to pickleball, do it. You will get really good health benefits from it. And if the alternative is to stop playing altogether, don’t do that. Switch to pickleball.
As far as the physical demands of those games, pickleball is less physically demanding than tennis. Look at the size of the surface area that people have to play on, and that becomes pretty obvious. If you have to run, you’re only going to run two or three steps, versus in tennis, you’re going to have to run seven or eight steps.
So, yes, the typical physical demands of pickleball can be less than those of tennis or badminton — it also depends on the levels that you’re playing at.
Is Pickleball “Safe”?
I think it is safe to consider it a safe alternative to tennis or badminton, if you have a good head on your shoulders and you think about it logically.
You still have to warm up adequately.
You still have to listen to your body adequately.
And even if it’s less physically challenging, you still have to treat your body with the respect that it deserves and understand that it’s a physically demanding game.
