Does Your Wrist Hurt After a Heated Padel Game?
Wrist pain is widespread in racket sports. Casual players and even pro-players are never immune to this problem. Wrist injuries in padel are common, whether caused by a traumatic experience or simply from overuse.
Injuries have haunted tennis champion Juan Martin to this day, preventing the former US Open champion from reaching his full potential. It’s difficult not to sympathize with Juan Martin del Potro’s cautionary tale, but readers should never assume that such tales are uncommon.
Rafael Nadal had to miss the rest of the season in October 2016 due to a wrist injury. Toni Nadal, Rafael’s uncle, and coach stated openly at the Congreso Murcia Sport & Business conference in Spain that Rafael has been “living with pain and painkillers since 2005.”
What Causes Wrist Damage from Padel?
Hitting a padel ball was hardly more stressful on the wrist than hitting a badminton shuttlecock back in the days of wooden rackets. Padel players would frequently hit the ball with the racket vertically, indicating the amount of force put into the motion.
The weight of rackets used by professionals and amateurs alike has also increased significantly. Most wooden rackets weigh between 90 and 200 grams. Even junior-oriented composite rackets used today weigh at least 250 grams, with professional equipment frequently exceeding the 300 g mark.
While these changes may not appear to be dramatic, they do add up. After tens of thousands of ball strokes, even minor changes in racket weight and hitting force significantly increase wrist wear and tear.
New composite rackets are, of course, designed to absorb the shock of contact. Modern rackets are built so that the materials used in the frame compensate for the significantly increased hitting power.
However, shock is best absorbed when the ball is struck with the sweet spot of the racket—typically the point in the center of the racket head. The shock is much greater when the stoke misses the sweet spot, putting strain on the wrist.
The racket spins when it is not struck with the center of the racket. This causes additional strain on the arm.
For amateur players, consistently finding the racket’s sweet spot is often a challenging task, which means that wrist problems manifest after fewer matches than professional players.
Some factors determine the amount of stress placed on the wrist during a padel match
In terms of technique, the double-handed backhand grip has proven to be highly stressful on the non-dominant arm, causing many injuries for professionals and amateurs alike. Most players do not realize how much they supinate their non-dominant hand while performing a double-handed backhand.
Do you know how severely the non-dominant hand is turned outwards during the backhand? This is one of the risks a lot of players don’t really know about
Counter-intuitively, a one-handed backhand is a safer option for players in terms of wrist damage. However, if switching the technique is not an option, it is necessary to train both sides of your body equally to prepare your non-dominant side to absorb the shocks repeatedly.
Not only the non-dominant hand is pressured to the extreme during the traditional double-handed backhand, but it is also, arguably, the most vulnerable body part in padel players. Due to the forehand-focused game of today, it is not uncommon for players to have an underdeveloped left (or right) part of the upper body.
Two particular dimensions in which the non-dominant half of a padel player must be trained to avoid injury are strength and flexibility, one no less important than the other.
Exercises are usually performed either after practice or during off-days and frequently involve low-weight wrist curls, radial (thumb-side) and ulnar deviation of the wrist with elastic bands for resistance, and endurance drills such as ball dribble.
Similarly, popular western and semi-western forehand grips require players to dramatically extend the dominant hand, which causes a maximum stretch in the muscles and ligaments in the arm.
When a ball is hit with significant force under that kind of tension, injury is more likely to happen.
Variations of the eastern grip that favor a flatter groundstroke enable players to restrict wrist supination and overextension during the stroke. For that reason, the eastern grip is less likely to cause an injury in padel players.
Grip size is another frequent culprit in padel-related wrist injuries, primarily due to overuse. If the grip is too large for a player’s hand, the racket handle is held more firmly, which again causes unnecessary strain onto the arm’s ligaments. It is crucial to test different grip sizes and find the fit that requires the least effort when holding the racket.
