The physiotherapist, Andrés Mundilla, analyzes the lesion epidemiology of Padel
Today’s article deals with the epidemiology of Padel injuries from the point of view of physiotherapy, taking current evidence as a reference.
Today, Padel is one of the sports most practiced by the entire Spanish population, not only professionally or semi-professionally, but also as a recreational sport. As with other racket sports, the repetition of actions and gestures specific to said game may be a factor associated with one or more types of musculoskeletal injuries.
The main risk factors for injury observed were age, laterality, and body mass index.
Based on different studies, it is observed that the regions with the highest incidence of injury are the elbow, the lumbar spine, the knee and the joint complex of the shoulder . The pathologies most observed in the upper extremities were tendinopathies, poorly known as «tendinitis» or in the case of the elbow as «epicondylitis». In turn, the most predominant muscle tear occurs in the triceps surae (gastroncemius and soleus), known as «Padel leg», where the main characteristic is noticing a feeling of «rock» in the leg after a torn.
On the other hand, it should be noted that despite having clearly defined lesion foci, there are differences between senior and junior players . Older players suffer more injuries at the elbow and knee level, however, youngsters have a higher rate in the lower back.
These findings could help trainers and physiotherapists to create preventive programs focused mainly on the scapulohumeral joint, lumbo-pelvic motor control and lower extremity strength
