Skip to content
Pickleball Safety

Knee injuries in pickleball

What knee injuries happen in pickleball, and how can I avoid them?

By Pickleball Safety editors · Published October 4, 2026 · Last reviewed October 4, 2026

How common they are

Ask pickleball players where they hurt, and the knee comes up first. A 2025 survey of 1,758 American players found that 29.1% had a knee problem in the past year. That beat every other body part. The shoulder, for comparison, was at 22.2%. Sprains were the second most common kind of serious injury in the survey, behind overuse problems [1].

Stanford's sports clinic saw the same thing. Of 164 pickleball injuries it treated from 2019 to 2023, 52 involved the knee, more than any other area. Almost half of those knee cases (48%) were tears of the medial, or inner, meniscus [2].

Pros get hurt too. Researchers who tracked the professional tour from 2018 to 2025 counted 8 knee injuries among 75 in total, and ACL tears were among the injuries that ended a player's season [3].

Meniscus tears

In sports, most meniscus tears come from pivoting or cutting, with or without contact [4]. Older knees tear more easily. Worn tissue gives way sooner, and the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons says an awkward twist while getting up from a chair can be enough [4].

You might feel a pop. Stiffness and swelling tend to build over 2 to 3 days. After that the knee may catch or lock, feel like it's giving way, or refuse to bend and straighten all the way. Plenty of people can still walk on a torn meniscus, and many athletes keep playing on one [4], which makes it easy to shrug off.

ACL tears

The anterior cruciate ligament usually goes when you stop fast and change direction, land from a jump, or turn [5]. Watch for a pop when it happens and swelling within 6 hours. It often hurts to put weight on the leg, and the knee feels unstable, as if it might give way [5].

Lowering the risk

NIAMS, part of the National Institutes of Health, lists the usual risk factors for sports injuries. Several of them show up on a pickleball court: poor technique, playing too often or too long, raising your intensity too fast, shoes without enough support, and an old injury [6]. In the player survey, people who played more times a week, and those with under 5 years of experience, were more likely to report an injury [1].

For the ACL in particular, MedlinePlus recommends good technique and jumping and landing exercises, which have been shown to cut ACL injuries [5]. Our warm-up guide is a good place to start.

When to get it checked

Call your provider right away after a serious knee injury. If your foot turns cool and blue afterward, get help immediately, because it can mean a blood vessel was damaged [5].

NIAMS says to get care for sudden, severe pain, a lot of swelling or bruising, or a leg you can't put weight on. A joint that won't move normally should be looked at too [6]. That includes a knee that keeps locking or catching, even if you can still walk on it.

Sources