Warming up for Safety: A National Survey of Pickleball Players Warm-Up Practices and Preferences

Abstract

Pickleball is America’s fastest-growing sport, with over 20% of the United States population participating annually. An exercise-based warm-up program is a primary target for injury prevention in sports. To guide the development of a pickleball-specific warm-up and recovery program, we examined specific constructs (e.g., injury prevention perceptions, warm-up knowledge, practices and preferences) in players across the United States. We surveyed United States-based pickleball players (≥18 years, playing ≥1x/month). Descriptive statistics and logistic regression explored injury prevention practices, and best-worst scaling identified preferred warm-up components. A total of 1758 pickleball players (mean age: 62.7±13.0 years; 55.3% women) completed the survey. 83.8% of players rated injury prevention as highly important. Many (80.2%) reported low-to-moderate knowledge, and few (22.9%) had injury prevention training. While 60.1% regularly engaged in warm-up, 32.0% included static stretching in their warm-up. Players relied on online sources (27.2%) and healthcare professionals (18.5%) for injury prevention information. Older players (≥65 years) were more likely to use static stretching (OR: 1.21, 95% CI: 1.01–1.47; p = 0.042). The most influential attributes for an “ideal” warm-up participation were "research evidence-based" (score = 387), "takes less than 5 minutes to complete" (score = 371), and "contributes to performance" (score = 273). The least preferred option was "two levels of exercise progression" (score = -83). Most pickleball players value injury prevention but have limited knowledge. Static stretching, an ineffective means of warm-up, is a common practice among pickleball players. This study establishes baseline data on warm-up preferences for a pickleball-specific warm-up.