We have often heard that le padel was a sport requiring less physical condition and causing less injuries which tennis. Is it really a reality?

What is the most injury-prone area for footballers? padel and tennis amateurs?

In the case of padel amateur: In the case of amateur tennis:

  • Elbow 20% Elbow 16%
  • Back 14-11% Foot 15%
  • Foot 13-11% Knee 11%
  • Knee 11-10% Shoulder 8%
  • Shoulder 10-8% Back 5%

 

If we look at the data of professional tennis players between 2012 and 2016 (unfortunately there is not too much data regarding the players of padel professionals) we find the following distribution.

We can see a very high number of back injuries, well above the following injuries: foot, shoulder and wrist.

What do these data mean?

Differences between tennis fans and padel

The data indicate that between le padel and tennis among amateurs, there is not really much difference in terms of injured areas. However, there is a slightly higher percentage of back injuries in the padel.

The shoulder, in great demand in tennis through service and padel with the many gestures such as the smash, the bandeja or vibora that are performed above the height of the head, is a much less risky area than the elbow, leading injury among fans of both sports. The famous tennis elbow is of course to blame, it is therefore essential for a fan of pay attention to the choice of your material.

 

White Bandeja wpt
                                            

Differences between amateurs and professionals

If we compare the players of amateur and professional tennis, it is very interesting to see the difference in back injuries. If they are very infrequent among amateurs, they are clearly so among the pros, with an impressive increase between 2012 and 2016. We therefore conclude that high-level practice, which is mostly done on hard courts, combined with many trips that professionals must make, generates a severe stress on the spine.

It would be interesting to know whether in the case of padel we would find comparable differences between amateurs and professionals, but unfortunately we do not have sufficient data at the moment.

Number of injuries

En padel, there is an average of 2,75 injuries per 1000 hours of play, while at tennis, the average number of injuries per 1000 hours of play varies from 1 to 4. We can consider that the risk of contracting an injury is similar for these two sports.

These data mean that these two sports have a much lower risk of injury than any other. contact sport. From contactless sports, they would be in an intermediate position, as there are sports with higher injury averages such as volleyball and gymnastics.

The 5 most frequent injuries in padel tennis players - AS.com

 

Factors that increase the risk of sustaining an injury to the padel

In the case of players padel lovers, it has been proven that the lower the level of play, the more injuries there are, which can be explained by the fact that the players have poorer physical and technical condition, which would lead to more injuries.

Conclusion

We can say that the padel is a sport thatwe can practice without too much risk for our health, which makes it a fun activity par excellence.

In terms of injuries, there is not a big difference with tennis, but even at an amateur level, we should not overlook physical preparation and technical work.

 

 

Bibliography

  1. García – Fernández P, Guodemar – Pérez J, Ruiz-López M, Rodríguez-López ES, García-Heras A, Hervás – Pérez JP. Lesional epidemiología en jugadores españoles de padel profesionales y amateur. RIMCAFD. 16 December 2019; 19 (76): 641.
  2. Fu MC, Ellenbecker TS, Renstrom PA, Windler GS, Dines DM. Epidemiology of injuries in tennis players. Curr Rev Musculoskelet Med. 16 enero 2018; 11 (1): 1-5.
  3. Sánchez-Alcaraz Martínez B, Ibáñez J, Díaz J, Muñoz D. Estudio descriptivo de lesiones de pádel: relación con el género, edad, nivel de los jugadores and localización de las lesiones. Revista Andaluza de Medicina del Deporte. 15 de marzo de 2019; 12: 29-34.
  4. Ibáñez JC, Alcaraz BJS, Cañas J. Innovación e investigación en pádel. Wanceulen SL; 2016. 303 p.
  5. Gutiérrez García D, Esparza Ros F. Lesiones en el tenis. Bibliographic revision. Apunts Medicina de l'Esport. 2011 Oct; 46 (172): 189-204.
  6. Humphrey J, Humphrey P, Greenwood A, Anderson J, Markus H, Ajuied A. Musculoskeletal injuries in real tennis. Open Access J Sports Med. 23 de mayo de 2019; 10: 81-6.
  7. Pluim BM, Staal JB, Windler GE, Jayanthi N. Tennis injuries: occurrence, aetiology, and prevention. Br J Sports Med. Mayo 2006; 40 (5): 415-23.

 

 

 

 

Alan bugarin

Alan Bugarin is a lover of sport in general and of padel in particular. He likes to make good use of
his time, which is why you will always see him playing sports, once his working day is over like
physiotherapist.

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