Improve Your Pickleball Balance With These Three Exercises

Pickleball has become a popular sport across all ages, but it can come with its own set of physical challenges. Balance, agility, and strength are critical for performance, and improper movement patterns can lead to injuries like sprains, strains, or overuse pain. When should you see a physical therapist? Whether it’s a new injury, lingering pain, or recurring issues like ankle sprains, a PT can help restore function, prevent injury, and improve performance. They assess movement limitations, treat injuries, and guide recovery, ensuring you stay active and pain-free.

For help with injury prevention and recovery, consult a PT when:

• You have a new injury (sprain/strain)
• Pain develops over time
• Injuries reoccur or persist
• Post-surgery Recovery
• Difficulty recovering after games or workouts
• Stiffness that won’t decrease with your stretching routine
• Lacking confidence with your activity or fear of pain/injury

By addressing these issues early, physical therapy can keep you on the court and performing your best. We see many pickleball players end up with injuries and decreased performance because they don’t focus enough on training their balance!  So we want to show you a few exercises you can implement today, to improve your pickleball balance with these physical therapy exercises!

But first, let’s understand what balance is!

Balance is the ability to maintain a given posture in relation to the force of gravity. We aren’t talking standing on one leg with your eyes closed. Balance is more than “not falling” or not feeling “drunk”. It  is how you keep your trunk over your wheels. How you position yourself for a sudden start or stop movement. Which we know for pickleball, is kind of important!

So if you want to  improve your balance in pickleball, try these exercises!