by Mia Bremer
Last year my 59-year old husband found both “his sport” and a community when he started attending a weekly drop in indoor pickleball game at NE Park Recreation Center. He took a two-hour lesson at Lucky Shots and shortly thereafter was at the park twice a week advancing his game. All was going well for six months until a shoulder tweak left him sore after games (see last month’s column). While he took a break, I continued to see his friends once a week after teaching my exercises class which meets in the same gym where pickleball takes place. When I mentioned Clark’s shoulder issue, I started hearing other complaints from players. Their concerns had to do with knee or hip pain, either during the game or afterwards. Hip and knee issues are, like shoulders, complex, which is why I have decided to divide this topic into two sections: lower body strength this month and lower body flexibility next month.
First, is you currently perform the CDC recommended two sessions of strength training twice a week, whether at home or the gym, Keep it up! To those who do not, now is the time to start. When it comes to lower joint pain, it is important to work the muscles that support the hips, knees, and ankles.
If you are using weight machines or doing squats and bridges, you are working the bigger muscles of the lower body. This is a good thing to continue to do! Hip and knee pain, however, can often be related to weakness in the smaller supporting muscles, forcing muscles which are not meant to support these joints to do the job, and thus causing imbalances. If we are not doing purposeful exercise to strengthen these muscles, we will inevitably start to feel the consequences.
The larger superficial gluteus maximus is essential for pushing off in the sagittal plane – forward and back – during a pickleball game. If you have noticed your rear is flatter than it used to be, it is time to add glute exercises to your routine or increase the resistance (weight) you are currently using.
Single Leg Bridges and Side Leg Lifts – Gluteus Maximus and Medius
(485) Best exercises for Lateral hip pain – YouTube
The gluteus Medius supports the hip laterally when standing, walking, and moving the leg laterally. This often ignored muscle is strengthened when we move the leg away from the body, side to side.
Pistol Squat – Gluteus Medius, adductors and abductors, quadriceps
(485) Strength & Control: Pistol Squat – YouTube
Inner knee pain is often a result of weakness of the inner or medial quadriceps muscles attached to the knee cap. Focusing on working this muscle can help to stabilize the knee, especially when moving in a lateral motion, side to side, motion during pickleball.
1-Leg lunge Series – Medial Quadriceps focus