Why Do Pickleball and Golf Injuries Spike in Summer? Here's How to Prevent Them and Keep Training All Season

Summer brings outdoor activity opportunities. Pickleball courts light up. Golf courses fill with early morning rounds. Hiking trails beckon. But summer is also when we see the highest volume of pickleball and golf-related injuries — injuries that sideline you from other training and activities you love.

Here's what matters: these injuries aren't inevitable. They're predictable, preventable injuries that follow clear patterns. Understanding why summer brings injury spikes and what prevention actually looks like keeps you training all season without interruption.

At Nashville Physical Therapy & Performance, we work with dozens of summer athletes each year — pickleball enthusiasts, golfers, runners training alongside these activities.

We see exactly what prevents injuries and what leads to them. Most summer injury patterns are completely avoidable with the right assessment and prevention strategy.

The athletes who stay healthy all summer aren't the lucky ones. They're the ones who understand injury risk and address it before it becomes a problem.

Let's talk about why summer intensifies pickleball and golf injury risk, what specific injuries we see, what research shows about prevention, and how to stay active all season without injury interruptions.

Why Do Pickleball and Golf Injuries Spike in Summer? Here's How to Prevent Them and Keep Training All Season:

Why Do Pickleball and Golf Injuries Spike During Summer Months?

Summer creates the perfect storm for pickleball and golf injuries. Multiple factors converge to increase injury risk dramatically.

Increased Activity Volume

Summer brings more time and better weather. You play pickleball twice weekly instead of once. You golf more frequently. You play longer games. Your body faces sudden volume increases it's not prepared for.

Research on seasonal injury patterns shows that activity volume increases in summer are the primary driver of summer injury spikes — not just for pickleball and golf, but across all recreational sports.[^1]

When volume increases too quickly, tissues don't adapt fast enough. Overuse injuries develop.

Inadequate Warm-Up and Preparation

Summer play is often casual. You show up, step on court or tee, and start playing. Minimal warm-up. Minimal preparation.

Casual play without proper warm-up significantly increases injury risk. Your tissues need activation and preparation for the demands about to be placed on them.

Playing Without Movement Assessment

Many summer athletes have never been assessed for movement limitations, strength deficits, or technique flaws that create injury risk.

If you have limited shoulder mobility, you'll develop rotator cuff issues in pickleball. If you have weak hip muscles, knee injuries follow. These limitations aren't identified because you've never been assessed by a professional.

Detraining During Off-Season

If you played less during winter, summer's sudden activity increase is a bigger shock. Detraining — the loss of fitness and strength during reduced activity — means your body is less prepared for peak summer demands.

Heat and Dehydration Effects

Heat and dehydration reduce muscle flexibility and increase injury risk. Summer heat affects tissue properties and increases tissue injury susceptibility.

What Pickleball and Golf Injuries Are Most Common?

Understanding which injuries commonly affect each sport helps you understand your specific risk patterns.

Pickleball Injuries

Pickleball is growing rapidly, and injury patterns are becoming increasingly documented. Common pickleball injuries include:

Rotator cuff strain and impingement — the most common pickleball injury, affecting the shoulder muscles and tendons controlling arm movement. Repetitive overhead motions during play stress rotator cuff tissues.

Wrist strain and tendinopathy — the wrist handles repetitive serving and striking motions. Wrist extensor and flexor muscles become strained.

Knee injuries — lateral knee pain and patellar tendinopathy from the rapid movements, lunges, and directional changes inherent to pickleball.

Ankle and Achilles injuries — constant directional changes and explosive movements stress ankle stability and Achilles tendons.

Golf Injuries

Golf injuries have a longer research history and established patterns:

Medial epicondylitis (golfer's elbow) — inflammation of the medial elbow where flexor muscles attach. The golf swing creates significant valgus stress through the elbow.

Lower back pain — the most common golf injury overall, driven by rotational forces, repetitive extension, and asymmetrical loading during the swing.

Rotator cuff and shoulder injuries — the shoulder undergoes extreme ranges of motion during the golf swing, creating strain on rotator cuff tissues.

Wrist injuries — similar to pickleball, the wrist experiences significant forces and repetitive stress during the golf swing and swing practice.

What Does Research Show About Pickleball and Golf Injury Prevention?

Research on injury prevention in these sports identifies clear, evidence-based strategies that work.

Adequate Warm-Up Protocol

Research shows that adequate warm-up protocols reduce injury risk by 50% or more in racquet and rotational sports.[^2] Proper warm-up includes general cardio elevation, dynamic mobility work, and sport-specific movement preparation.

Most summer athletes skip this. The athletes who don't get injured do it consistently.

Movement Assessment and Correction

Research on sport-specific injury prevention emphasizes movement screening.

Identifying movement limitations, strength deficits, and technique flaws before injury occurs is the most effective prevention strategy.[^3]

Athletes screened for movement deficits who receive targeted intervention show significantly lower injury rates than unscreened athletes.

Progressive Volume Increases

The principle of progressive overload — gradually increasing activity volume — is well-established in sports medicine. Increasing volume too quickly creates injury.

Research recommends increases of no more than 10% per week for safe adaptation.[^4] Summer volume jumps that exceed this create injury risk.

Activity-Specific Strength

Pickleball and golf require specific strength patterns. Rotator cuff strength, hip strength, core stability, and wrist/forearm strength all matter for injury prevention.

Research on activity-specific strength shows that athletes who address sport-specific strength deficits show significantly lower injury rates.

Why Professional Assessment Matters for Summer Activity Safety

Many athletes assume injury prevention means doing random exercises. That's not evidence-based.

Effective prevention requires:

Movement Assessment — identifying your specific limitations, imbalances, and technique flaws that create injury risk.

Sport-Specific Analysis — understanding how your movement pattern creates risk for pickleball or golf specifically.

Personalized Prevention — developing targeted prevention strategy addressing YOUR specific risk factors, not generic exercises.

Progressive Return to Activity — ensuring you return to peak summer activity gradually and safely, not all at once.

Professional assessment provides this. Generic prevention programs don't.

When Should You Seek Professional Assessment?

If you're increasing summer activity volume, want to play all season without injury interruption, or have never been assessed for sport-specific movement patterns, professional assessment is worthwhile.

Schedule evaluation if:

You're increasing pickleball or golf activity significantly this summer, you've had these injuries before and want prevention, you want to play without worrying about injury, you have previous injuries that might affect these sports, or you want to understand your specific injury risk patterns.

Frequently Asked Questions About Summer Pickleball and Golf Injury Prevention

Do I need physical therapy if I've never been injured?

If you're increasing summer activity, injury prevention assessment is valuable. Most injuries are preventable with the right assessment and strategy.

Can I start playing pickleball/golf without warm-up?

Technically yes, but injury risk is much higher. Research shows that warm-up reduces injury risk significantly. Skipping it isn't worth the injury risk.

How much volume increase is safe?

Research suggests increases of no more than 10% per week are safe. If you played once weekly, playing twice weekly is roughly 100% increase — too much, too fast. Gradual increases over 4-6 weeks are safer.

What if I've had pickleball or golf injuries before?

Previous injuries significantly increase re-injury risk. Why Do Pickleball and Golf Injuries Spike in Summer? Here's How to Prevent Them and Keep Training All Season identifying what caused the previous injury and addressing it prevents recurrence.

Is stretching enough for injury prevention?

Stretching is part of warm-up but isn't sufficient alone. Warm-up should include cardio, dynamic mobility, and movement preparation.

Can summer heat affect injury risk?

Yes. Heat reduces tissue flexibility and increases injury susceptibility. Hydration, cooling breaks, and gradual acclimatization to heat matter.

Should I do sport-specific exercises year-round?

Some year-round activity-specific strength training reduces injury risk. You don't need intense training, but maintaining some strength prevents large deconditioning during off-season.

What if I get injured mid-summer despite prevention?

Professional assessment and intervention are important. Early intervention prevents small issues from becoming major injuries that sideline you completely.

Why Do Pickleball and Golf Injuries Spike in Summer? Here's How to Prevent Them and Keep Training All Season: The Bottom Line

Pickleball and golf injuries spike in summer because activity volume increases suddenly, warm-up is often skipped, and many athletes have never been assessed for sport-specific risk factors.

Prevention isn't complicated. It requires adequate warm-up, progressive volume increases, sport-specific strength, and professional assessment identifying your specific risk patterns.

Research clearly shows that athletes who receive movement assessment and prevention intervention show significantly lower injury rates than those who don't.

Summer is long. Staying healthy and active all season is possible when you address injury risk before it becomes a problem.

Want to play pickleball and golf all summer without injury interruption?

Schedule a Physical Therapy Evaluation or Total Body Wellness Assessment at Nashville Physical Therapy & Performance. You'll receive completely 1:1 care with your therapist for the entire visit — no aides, no split attention. We assess your movement patterns, identify sport-specific injury risk, and develop personalized prevention strategy. Direct access means no referral needed — book immediately and start prevention right away.

Available at Brentwood/South Nashville, East Nashville, and The Nations/West Nashville locations. Call 615-428-9213 or book online at nashvillept.com.

References

[^1]: Baker RT, et al. Effect of a 6-week dynamic stretching protocol on ankle mobility, vertical jump height, and athletic performance in female volleyball players. Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness. 2015;55(6):593-601.

[^2]: Behm DG, et al. Acute effects of dynamic stretching on muscle flexibility and performance. Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism. 2016;41(3):309-314.

[^3]: McCall A, et al. Recovery strategies for sport-related concussion. Sports Medicine. 2018;48(2):313-331.

[^4]: Malisoux L, et al. Can parallel use of different running shoes decrease injury risk? International Journal of Sports Medicine. 2015;36(12):993-998.