Achilles tendon tears in pickleball
How do Achilles tendon tears happen in pickleball, and who is most at risk?
By Pickleball Safety editors · Published October 4, 2026 · Last reviewed October 4, 2026
How they happen
The Achilles tendon runs from your calf muscles to your heel bone. Every time you push off the ground or rise onto your toes, it's doing the work [1].
It usually tears when the calf muscle gets stretched too fast. Landing from a jump can do it. So can cutting hard to change direction [2]. MedlinePlus adds sudden push-offs, like breaking from a walk into a run, and sports full of stops, sharp turns and jumps, such as tennis and basketball [1].
What it feels like
People often hear a snap, crack or pop, and say it felt like someone hit the back of their ankle with a bat [1]. Severe pain and swelling near the heel can follow. You may not be able to walk on that leg, or stand up on the toes of that foot [2].
Who is most at risk
In pickleball, it's mostly older players. One large orthopedic group with more than 100 surgeons went through its Achilles repairs from 2018 to 2022. The median pickleball patient was 60, against 45 for tennis and 37 for every other sport. Players over 50 made up 82.5% of the pickleball tears, and pickleball's share of the group's Achilles repairs went from 0.5% in 2018 to 6.7% in 2021 [3].
Another clinic saw the same thing. Its pickleball patients averaged 64.5 years old, compared with 48.6 for everyone else with an Achilles tear, and more of them had surgery: 67.4% against 45.4% [4].
New players, take note. In a study of 28 players who tore an Achilles on the court, 68% were hurt within their first month of playing. For 32%, it happened the first time they played [5].
Nationally the picture looks different. Young men tear the Achilles most often, usually playing basketball. Among people 60 and older, and among women, ball sports such as pickleball were common causes [6].
Lowering the risk
A 2026 review of pickleball leg injuries recommends a dynamic warm-up before you play [7]. The warm-up guide covers what that can look like. If you've torn the tendon before, MedlinePlus advises staying in good shape, and warming up and stretching before exercise, to avoid doing it again [1].
Recovery
A torn Achilles can be treated with surgery or without it [2]. With physical therapy, most people get back to normal activity in 4 to 6 months [1].
The court is another story. In that study of 28 players, fewer than half (47%) went back to pickleball, and those who did took 1.6 years on average. All but one of the others said fear of getting hurt again kept them off the court [5].
Sources
- Achilles tendon rupture: aftercareMedlinePlus, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2026Common causes and symptoms of an Achilles tear, recovery time, and advice on avoiding another one.
- Achilles tendon rupture (tear)American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, OrthoInfoHow Achilles tears happen and what they feel like.
- Pickleball-associated Achilles tendon ruptures: shifting Achilles repair demographicsPadley JH, et al. Foot & Ankle Orthopaedics, 2026The age of players who tear an Achilles tendon playing pickleball.
- Pickleball and the rising incidence of Achilles tendon injuries in the elderlyMcCahon JAS, et al. Foot & Ankle Specialist, 2026Age and surgery rates for pickleball Achilles tears.
- Pickleball and the return to sport after Achilles tendon ruptureLencer AJ, et al. Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, 2026When in a player's first months the tears happened, and how many players returned to the game.
- Epidemiology of Achilles tendon ruptures in the United States: 2019 to 2024Burke OC Jr, et al. The Physician and Sportsmedicine, 2026Who tears an Achilles tendon nationally, and in which sports.
- Lower extremity injuries in adult pickleball players: a systematic review of injury types, mechanisms, and risk factorsOkhovat A, et al. Cureus, 2026The main causes of leg injuries, and the prevention steps the authors recommend.