Pickleball, innocuously charming as it sounds, isn't all about pickles, balls or gentle volleys over a lawn table. It's a blend of tennis, table tennis, and badminton with a bit of a twist. And by twist, we mean the potential yo-yoing of your joints and the nasty risk of resembling a glass sculpture manned by a cat if you're not careful.

Now, before you start imagining yourself snapping like a brittle biscotti, we assure you, with the right approach, it's more like testing your limits and less like a game of Russian roulette with your skeletal system. However, let's first talk about the perils lurking in the shadows of this innocently named sport.

Healthcare paste-ups reveal a haunting figure of 19,000 pickleball injuries requiring emergency department treatment yearly in the U.S. While it's handy to know that the game doesn't discriminate based on gender, it has an apparent fondness for inviting the golden ages to its dance of pain. No kidding, 90% of pickleball injuries occur in people over age 50.

While the sport tech sheets may marketingly label it as low-impact, the reality can be a hot punch in the face (or the knee, elbow, or hip) if you approach it carelessly. As hellishly fun as the game may be, the repetitive swinging, bending and twisting could become a passport directly to a bone fracture or tendon tear.

Now, assuming you’re on board with maintaining your strut and less being confined to a couch,
here's the skinny on avoiding the picklebandages. Make friends with proper warm-ups and cool downs, and more importantly, perfect your technique unless you fancy a cringe-worthy jumper's knee or a reversed Weeknd style twisted ankle.

Those sporting silver threads should be aware of any preexisting bone conditions, including osteoporosis, arthritis, and pickleball (okay, we made that up!). Arming yourself with reliable equipment, adequately hydrating, building a cardio reserve, and simply respecting your body's limits may seem like suggestions du jour but trust us, they save the day, and more importantly, your healthcare dime.

Experiencing a pickleball injury, regardless of its flair for the dramatic, calls for immediate action. Be it a minor strain, remember to ice it, rest, and load up on some old-fashioned painkillers. For anything that screams more intense than a paper cut, remember to dial your doc or pay a visit to your healthcare prescriber.

So, put on your game face, arm yourself with our nifty advice, and sally forth into the pearly gates of pickleball heaven without careening off into injury oblivion. Beet it, bogus diets and redundant workout routines, because pickleball – when played with caution – is here to stay, sans ER visits.