Fracture Risk Up 200%

As Americans continue their obsession with pickleball, the injury statistics continue to impress. In fact, bone fractures related to pickleball have increased 200% over the last 20 years, according 

to research presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AASOS) last week in 

San Francisco.

Injury mechanism is falls 

Non-contact injuries, like ACL and Achilles tears, would seem to be the obvious injury leaders, due to the quick pivot activity associated with pickleball. In reality, however, it’s falls that are the most common mechanism. In this study, 92% of injuries were related to falls. 

Deep dive on the data

Using the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s National Electronic Injury Surveillance System for their report, Ghattas and her colleagues found descriptions of 377 pickleball-related fractures in the database between 2002 and 2022. Women were more likely than men to experience a fracture and most of those fractures were upper-body fractures. Men’s fractures tended to be in bones of the lower body and more likely to require admission to a hospital.