Some interesting quotes from the article:
The increases in players and demographic breakdown of those enjoying the sport led UBS to predict that pickleball will lead to: 67,000 emergency department trips, 366,000 outpatient visits, 8,8000 outpatient surgeries, 4,700 hospitalizations and 20,000 post-acute episodes.
A report from 2019 in the Journal of Emergency Medicine estimated there were about 19,000 pickleball injuries per year, with 90% of them affecting people 50 or older.
I think it’s good that more people are getting exercise, just be careful out there folks!
This could be interesting if compared to other sports injuries, but its pretty meaningless without that context.
How does it stack up against tennis or racquetball?
I think this is very true but I think also related is the accessibility of Pickleball. I think someone older is more likely to pick up pickleball than say tennis or racquetball. So more people playing is going to naturally mean more injuries.
Relevant xkcd