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Author Topic: 'Almost too easy to play': Pickleball's popularity comes at a cost  (Read 1682 times)

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Offline libertybele

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'Almost too easy to play': Pickleball's popularity comes at a cost
« on: July 02, 2023, 05:13:25 pm »
I've seen it played and it looks fun.  My PT recently started playing, but she's extremely active. Most people who haven't exercised or played any sport for awhile should know better than to jump in and start vigorous activity.

'Almost too easy to play': Pickleball's popularity comes at a cost

The neighborly pitch to bring people into the pickleball craze has been simple.

Players just need an open space, a net, a ball and pair of paddles — and they can play for hours. There's less movement than what is needed in tennis, and really, as the New York Times wrote last September, "anyone can play."

That simple pitch may be coming at a price. In a recent research note, UBS analysts estimated $250 million to $500 million in medical costs attributable to pickleball in 2023. The sport could even be contributing to an uptick in outpatient surgeries among seniors, they said, in addition to factors like a procedure backlog built up in the pandemic and the removal of mask requirements.

So how did what seems like a harmless sport suddenly become a potential culprit behind higher healthcare costs in America?

"Pickleball was almost too easy to play," Dr. Joshua Dines, an orthopedic surgeon who specializes in sports medicine and shoulder surgery at Hospital for Special Surgery told Yahoo Finance. "So people that hadn't done anything in years, this was kind of their entrance back into sport, and maybe weren't ready for it."...........

https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/almost-too-easy-to-play-pickleballs-popularity-comes-at-a-cost-190051922.html
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Online Wingnut

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Re: 'Almost too easy to play': Pickleball's popularity comes at a cost
« Reply #1 on: July 02, 2023, 05:28:03 pm »
The safest way to live life is be sedentary.  Sit at home with a chip bowl in your lap in front of the TV and let heart disease and/or a stroke take you out.  If you are lucky you will die in your sleep and not have to burden the health care system with a trip to the ER and the associated expenses before the pull you off life support.

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Online bigheadfred

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Re: 'Almost too easy to play': Pickleball's popularity comes at a cost
« Reply #2 on: July 02, 2023, 05:41:18 pm »
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Online Smokin Joe

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Re: 'Almost too easy to play': Pickleball's popularity comes at a cost
« Reply #3 on: July 02, 2023, 05:59:44 pm »
According to the CDC:
Quote
An average annual estimate of 8.6 million sports- and recreation-related injury episodes was reported, with an age-adjusted rate of 34.1 per 1,000 population.


Sounds real healthy to me... :shrug: :whistle:
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Online Wingnut

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Re: 'Almost too easy to play': Pickleball's popularity comes at a cost
« Reply #4 on: July 02, 2023, 06:07:17 pm »
Quote from: Smokin Joe on July 02, 2023, 05:59:44 pm
According to the CDC:



If they had been wearing a mask the injuries would have been much less. 
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Online Weird Tolkienish Figure

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Re: 'Almost too easy to play': Pickleball's popularity comes at a cost
« Reply #5 on: July 02, 2023, 06:49:59 pm »
What is pickleball again?
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Online Ghost Bear

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Re: 'Almost too easy to play': Pickleball's popularity comes at a cost
« Reply #6 on: July 02, 2023, 07:34:59 pm »
Quote from: Weird Tolkienish Figure on July 02, 2023, 06:49:59 pm
What is pickleball again?

Oh good, I was afraid that I was the only one who had never heard of it.   :shrug:
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Online Polly Ticks

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Re: 'Almost too easy to play': Pickleball's popularity comes at a cost
« Reply #7 on: July 02, 2023, 07:37:59 pm »
Quote from: Weird Tolkienish Figure on July 02, 2023, 06:49:59 pm
What is pickleball again?

A weird mash-up between tennis and ping pong.
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Online Smokin Joe

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Re: 'Almost too easy to play': Pickleball's popularity comes at a cost
« Reply #8 on: July 02, 2023, 10:19:52 pm »
Quote from: Wingnut on July 02, 2023, 06:07:17 pm
If they had been wearing a mask the injuries would have been much less.
Yeah, they'd have passed out before they got hurt.  :shrug:
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How God must weep at humans' folly! Stand fast! God knows what he is doing!
Seventeen Techniques for Truth Suppression

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.

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Online jmyrlefuller

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Re: 'Almost too easy to play': Pickleball's popularity comes at a cost
« Reply #9 on: July 02, 2023, 10:35:57 pm »
Quote from: Weird Tolkienish Figure on July 02, 2023, 06:49:59 pm
What is pickleball again?
Imagine a giant game of ping-pong... with the wooden rackets and plastic ball... on a full-size tennis court.

That's pickleball in a nutshell.
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Re: 'Almost too easy to play': Pickleball's popularity comes at a cost
« Reply #10 on: July 03, 2023, 08:45:38 am »
Quote from: Jack Russell on July 02, 2023, 10:15:29 pm
Since I just had knee surgery, I think I'm going to take up pickleball before attempting tennis again.  My friends love it.

Mine do, too ... and not just the ones who are older and/or have been injured.  (Hope your recovery goes quickly and smoothly, by the way!)  Even my 20-something son who used to play a lot of tennis is playing pickleball almost exclusively.
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Re: 'Almost too easy to play': Pickleball's popularity comes at a cost
« Reply #11 on: July 03, 2023, 08:53:22 am »
Quote from: jmyrlefuller on July 02, 2023, 10:35:57 pm
Imagine a giant game of ping-pong... with the wooden rackets and plastic ball... on a full-size tennis court.

That's pickleball in a nutshell.

Pretty much, although it's not a full-size tennis court.   Tennis courts are 60' X 120', and pickleball courts are 20' x 44'.

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Online Wingnut

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Re: 'Almost too easy to play': Pickleball's popularity comes at a cost
« Reply #12 on: July 03, 2023, 06:48:42 pm »
I remember the same shit the Doc's said about Racket Ball in the late 70's and 80's.   Pickle ball is the new Racket Ball without the walls, welts, and stitches.
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Online Weird Tolkienish Figure

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Re: 'Almost too easy to play': Pickleball's popularity comes at a cost
« Reply #13 on: July 05, 2023, 03:15:01 pm »
Quote from: Wingnut on July 03, 2023, 06:48:42 pm
I remember the same shit the Doc's said about Racket Ball in the late 70's and 80's.   Pickle ball is the new Racket Ball without the walls, welts, and stitches.

I remember RB being popular with yuppie types in the 80's.
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Online mountaineer

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Re: 'Almost too easy to play': Pickleball's popularity comes at a cost
« Reply #14 on: July 05, 2023, 08:27:26 pm »
I remember a kid in college getting two teeth knocked out by a racquetball racquet. Is the pickleball paddle less lethal?  :laugh:
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