Is pickleball better for herniated disc than tennis?

M

mintstar

New User
I have had a herniated disc and sciatica for several years and can't play tennis anymore -- everytime I try, it flares up my sciatica. I really miss tennis and was hoping pickleball might be possible. Is anyone with sciatica able to play pickleball?
 
T

tennis3

Hall of Fame
mintstar said:
I have had a herniated disc and sciatica for several years and can't play tennis anymore -- everytime I try, it flares up my sciatica. I really miss tennis and was hoping pickleball might be possible. Is anyone with sciatica able to play pickleball?
Click to expand...
Go ahead and play. Why not? It's what old guys do.

At a party over the weekend everyone was reciting their various injuries. And how it doesn't stop them from doing whatever they want. Most are ACL reconstruction stories and guys still trying to ski like they're teenagers (and being proud of it).

Nearly every old guy I see still playing doubles has to take 20 minutes putting on various braces and whatnot so they can play 3.0 level doubles for an hour. Then I think they take about 5,000 mg of ibuprofen a day as well.

So ya, why not play pickleball with a herniated disc. My old boss had to constantly suck on "morphine lollipops" just to get through the day. He destroyed his body in rodeo when he was young. Still insisted on carrying anything heavy around the office instead of letting anyone else do it, just to show he could still do it. Took him 20 minutes to get up off the floor one day.

In short, as an "old guy" with good medical coverage, it's your god given right to needlessly destroy your body playing sports. The doctors will continue to fix you up good as new.
 
SteveI

SteveI

Legend
tennis3 said:
Go ahead and play. Why not? It's what old guys do.

At a party over the weekend everyone was reciting their various injuries. And how it doesn't stop them from doing whatever they want. Most are ACL reconstruction stories and guys still trying to ski like they're teenagers (and being proud of it).

Nearly every old guy I see still playing doubles has to take 20 minutes putting on various braces and whatnot so they can play 3.0 level doubles for an hour. Then I think they take about 5,000 mg of ibuprofen a day as well.

So ya, why not play pickleball with a herniated disc. My old boss had to constantly suck on "morphine lollipops" just to get through the day. He destroyed his body in rodeo when he was young. Still insisted on carrying anything heavy around the office instead of letting anyone else do it, just to show he could still do it. Took him 20 minutes to get up off the floor one day.

In short, as an "old guy" with good medical coverage, it's your god given right to needlessly destroy your body playing sports. The doctors will continue to fix you up good as new.
Click to expand...

Everyone has a different viewpoint. Depends on what you value. Happy Pickleballing... :)
 
Crocodile

Crocodile

G.O.A.T.
Swimming is very good for sciatica and McKenzie stretches, plus planks.
Many who have herniated disk do weekly Physio plus swimming and strengthening exercises and things can improve.
 
ByeByePoly

ByeByePoly

G.O.A.T.
sureshs said:
The picking up of balls is more damaging than bending during actual play
Click to expand...

Edit: you can play decent level of doubles with limited movement and cutting by getting to kitchen as quick as possible (as one should … win or lose based on kitchen skills). Forget about pball singles with any back issues … major direction changing cutting.

You need to pick up pballs with paddle and foot :-D like with racquet and tennis balls. I practiced it at home until I could do it … no furniture or lights were damaged. :-D I forget to do it at courts … good reminder … need to for laughs.

Edit: just tried this pball paddle/foot pickup again … WAY easier now with Vatic Pro V7 carbon face than previous graphite face. 8-B


As I posted early on … my lower back was constantly sore the first couple of weeks. It then pretty much went away … but I do not have back problems. But it’s 5+ months now … 2 hours 3 times a week … and calves still being challenged. Constant kitchen play is hard on calves at 65. Even went through a brief stint of jumper’s knee. Currently doing wall squats, calve raises and slow eccentric squats with foot slanted down on slant board at home. The better you get at pickleball (or when you play opponents that force kitchen dinking play) … more dinking for me is more calf stress with the squatting than back stress from bending.

This saves me with tight calves … use before I leave the house and seems like I can feel it also relieve lower leg (achilles, etc) tightness.

 
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SystemicAnomaly

SystemicAnomaly

Bionic Poster
ByeByePoly said:
Edit: you can play decent level of doubles with limited movement and cutting by getting to kitchen as quick as possible (as one should … win or lose based on kitchen skills). Forget about pball singles with any back issues … major direction changing cutting.

You need to pick up pballs with paddle and foot :-D like with racquet and tennis balls. I practiced it at home until I could do it … no furniture or lights were damaged. :-D I forget to do it at courts … good reminder … need to for laughs.

Edit: just tried this pball paddle/foot pickup again … WAY easier now with Vatic Pro V7 carbon face than previous graphite face. 8-B


As I posted early on … my lower back was constantly sore the first couple of weeks. It then pretty much went away … but I do not have back problems. But it’s 5+ months now … 2 hours 3 times a week … and calves still being challenged. Constant kitchen play is hard on calves at 65. Even went through a brief stint of jumper’s knee. Currently doing wall squats, calve raises and slow eccentric squats with foot slanted down on slant board at home. The better you get at pickleball (or when you play opponents that force kitchen dinking play) … more dinking for me is more calf stress with the squatting than back stress from bending.

This saves me with tight calves … use before I leave the house and seems like I can feel it also relieve lower leg (achilles, etc) tightness.

Click to expand...
With doubs, you can kick the ball over to your partner so that they have to bend over to pick it up.
 
ByeByePoly

ByeByePoly

G.O.A.T.
sureshs said:
I meant that the whole purpose of playing tennis or pickle is to meet interesting people and stay away from your spouse
Click to expand...

Well … she is more interesting than me … and our new pickleball open play family agrees. I have more new pickleball friends because her lesser half gets to tag along. That comes at a cost … she found female pb friends to support her in her desire for a new dog. We got two. :eek:
 
happyandbob

happyandbob

Legend
ByeByePoly said:
Edit: you can play decent level of doubles with limited movement and cutting by getting to kitchen as quick as possible (as one should … win or lose based on kitchen skills). Forget about pball singles with any back issues … major direction changing cutting.

You need to pick up pballs with paddle and foot :-D like with racquet and tennis balls. I practiced it at home until I could do it … no furniture or lights were damaged. :-D I forget to do it at courts … good reminder … need to for laughs.

Edit: just tried this pball paddle/foot pickup again … WAY easier now with Vatic Pro V7 carbon face than previous graphite face. 8-B


As I posted early on … my lower back was constantly sore the first couple of weeks. It then pretty much went away … but I do not have back problems. But it’s 5+ months now … 2 hours 3 times a week … and calves still being challenged. Constant kitchen play is hard on calves at 65. Even went through a brief stint of jumper’s knee. Currently doing wall squats, calve raises and slow eccentric squats with foot slanted down on slant board at home. The better you get at pickleball (or when you play opponents that force kitchen dinking play) … more dinking for me is more calf stress with the squatting than back stress from bending.

This saves me with tight calves … use before I leave the house and seems like I can feel it also relieve lower leg (achilles, etc) tightness.

Click to expand...
that MFer is $500 now on the jungle book seller. can you believe that?
 
ByeByePoly

ByeByePoly

G.O.A.T.
happyandbob said:
that MFer is $500 now on the jungle book seller. can you believe that?
Click to expand...

Now you have me confused … my usual state of mind. I just looked out on my jungle account … and the one I bought for $59 is now $49. I see the $500 one right next to it … and so far I see nothing in their detail descriptions that are different. Reminds me of this:

I guess the $500 is purple :-D


Also funny how many different brands look almost identical … including same 10 speed digital display and charge % digital display at base of handle. Must be shared China manufacturing for massage guns like carbon faced pickleball paddles. :-D
 
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happyandbob

happyandbob

Legend
ByeByePoly said:
Now you have me confused … my usual state of mind. I just looked out on my jungle account … and the one I bought for $59 is now $49. I see the $500 one right next to it … and so far I see nothing in their detail descriptions that are different. Reminds me of this:

Also funny how many different brands look almost identical … including same 10 speed digital display and charge % digital display at base of handle. Must be shared China manufacturing for massage guns like carbon faced pickleball paddles. :-D
Click to expand...
but none of the others have the DarkIron balls to list theirs for $499 :-D
 
Bud

Bud

Bionic Poster
Overall, PB doubles is much easier on the body (especially indoor smooth courts) as you're moving shorter distances and the points are quicker. Games are also much quicker than tennis sets of 35+ points. Competitive PB games last about 15-20 minutes. If you're outmatched, less than 10 minutes. If I play advanced level PB for 3-4 hours, that's equivalent to about 1.5-2 hours of 4.0-4.5 tennis doubles. The next day, I feel pretty fresh after PB vs tennis where I need a day rest for the hips and knees.
 
2

2ndServe

Hall of Fame
Serving is terrible for my back when I had a disc problem and pickleball involves no serving.

You’re taking so many more hard steps and jumping in tennis and more coverage a simple watch will tell you.

Pickleball is way easier on the back, yes you have to bend but you have so much more time and I think a heavier longer racket exerts a certain amount of strain on the arm , shoulders, back etc than the short paddle.
 
ByeByePoly

ByeByePoly

G.O.A.T.
2ndServe said:
Serving is terrible for my back when I had a disc problem and pickleball involves no serving.

You’re taking so many more hard steps and jumping in tennis and more coverage a simple watch will tell you.

Pickleball is way easier on the back, yes you have to bend but you have so much more time and I think a heavier longer racket exerts a certain amount of strain on the arm , shoulders, back etc than the short paddle.
Click to expand...

Never had back issues … and I’m sure back injuries vary on what movement causes the most problem. There is more bending in pickleball because of low bounce and dinking at kitchen. There is more upper body rotation in tennis … if you are doing it right. 8-B You could eliminate most body rotation and still play a decent level of pickleball. Hit arming serve, drives and ros with minimum rotation (I see this every play session) … hit overheads with frying pan grip with torso square to the net (common pickleball player technique that didn’t come from throwing motion sports). Kitchen play is majority of doubles … and primarily played torso facing net (rotate in the situations where you have time).

So my guess is the specific back injury question is what hurts more 1) bending … or 2) rotation?
 
M

mctennis

Legend
ballmachineguy said:
Oh the noise, the noise, the noise, noise, noise, noise!
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I HATE the noise pickle ball makes. We had two courts being used at the indoor facility I played at. We were playing tennis on the 4th court on that side. the noise was so loud we could not hear your partner on the same side of the net as you were on. We had to move to the other side of the facility in order to play tennis. There was a reception area in between the 4 courts on either side with plexiglass windows in between. The noise was too loud to even play. HORRIBLE loud noise.
 
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