The most common padel injuries are tennis elbow, shoulder pain, calf and Achilles problems, knee pain and ankle sprains. These occur because padel combines overhead smashes, glass wall play and rapid changes of direction within a relatively confined court, placing repeated and often awkward demands on the shoulders, lower limbs and connective tissue.
Padel has grown faster than almost any other racquet sport in the UK over the past few years, and clinics are seeing the injury pattern grow alongside it. Understanding what tends to go wrong, and why, is the first step to avoiding becoming one of those statistics.
Tennis elbow
Just as in pickleball, the repetitive gripping and wrist action involved in padel volleys and defensive shots places significant load on the forearm tendons. Padel racquets are solid rather than strung, which changes the vibration profile transmitted through the arm on contact, and this can be a contributing factor for some players. Cause: repetitive gripping and wrist load. Prevention: review grip tension and build forearm strength progressively.
Shoulder pain
The overhead smash is one of padel’s signature shots, and it asks a great deal of the shoulder, particularly the rotator cuff muscles that control and stabilise the joint through a fast overhead movement. Players who smash frequently without adequate shoulder strength and mobility are particularly susceptible. Cause: repeated overhead loading without sufficient shoulder strength. Prevention: build rotator cuff strength and shoulder mobility as part of regular conditioning.
Calf and Achilles injuries
Padel’s stop-start movement pattern, with frequent split-steps and short sprints to the net or back to the baseline, places significant demand on the calf muscles and Achilles tendon. This is particularly true for players returning to the sport after a break, or those who have recently increased how often they play. Cause: rapid acceleration and deceleration on a confined court. Prevention: include calf-specific strengthening and a proper warm-up before every session.
Knee pain
The lateral lunges and rapid direction changes required to reach wide shots place rotational and lateral stress through the knee. This is a common source of pain particularly for players returning to court sport after a period of inactivity, or those with pre-existing knee issues. Cause: lateral movement and lunging under load. Prevention: build lower-limb strength, particularly in the hips and quadriceps, to better control knee position during movement.
Ankle sprains
The smaller padel court and frequent use of the side and back glass walls mean players are often moving at speed in confined spaces, increasing the risk of rolling an ankle, particularly on the recovery step after smashing or volleying. Cause: rapid movement in confined space, often with a change of direction. Prevention: include balance and proprioception work in your training, and ensure footwear is appropriate for indoor court surfaces.
Most padel injuries aren’t accidents. They’re the predictable result of a body that hasn’t yet adapted to the sport’s specific demands.
Why new players are at greater risk
If you are new to padel, your risk of most of these injuries is meaningfully higher in your first few months. Your body has not yet adapted to the specific movement patterns the sport demands, even if you are generally fit or play other sports. The safest approach is to build up your playing frequency gradually over four to six weeks rather than playing several times a week from the outset, and to include some general conditioning work alongside your matches.
Getting help
If you are managing any of the injuries described above, early assessment makes a meaningful difference to how quickly you recover and how likely the problem is to come back. A physiotherapist who understands padel specifically, rather than treating it as a generic racquet sport, can identify which aspect of your game or your conditioning is the underlying cause, not just the painful area.
