A common injury for many pickleball players is found in the shoulder muscle. This is because it is one of the largest muscle groups needed to consistently perform pickleball shots.
In a previous video, Certified Teaching Pro & NASM Corrective Exercise Specialist Dustin Davis walked viewers through ways to avoid shoulder pain while playing pickleball and how to relieve shoulder soreness.
Now, in this new video installment, Dustin teaches viewers how to strengthen their shoulders for pickleball. Once you lengthen the muscles by stretching and alleviating tenderness, it’s important to strengthen them to improve performance and prevent injury.
Move 1: Supermans to improve your postural chain
Lay flat on your stomach with your arms extended in front of you. Slowly raise both arms and both legs off the ground as if you’re flying like Superman. Keeping your neck neutral, look straight forward at the ground.
Hold this position for about 10 seconds before slowly lowering back down. You should feel this exercise in your shoulder blades, the postural muscles in the center of your back, and your glutes.
Complete three repetitions of this exercise.
Move 2: Single arm shoulder raise
Grab a light set of weights, a water bottle, or your pickleball paddle for this move. Stand tall with your feet together and your arms extended straight down.
Slowly raise your right arm straight out to your side, stopping at shoulder height. Hold your arm at shoulder height, making sure to squeeze your shoulder, for five seconds. Holding at the top allows you to focus on your shoulder muscle, ensuring that it’s not pushed up toward your neck.
Once you’ve held for five seconds, slowly lower your arm back down. Now, complete five repetitions without holding at the top.
Now, raise your arm to shoulder height and hold for four seconds. Then, complete four repetitions without holding at the top.
Continue this pattern for three, then two, then one. Be mindful of where you are feeling the exercise — if you begin feeling the exercise in your neck rather than your shoulder, use lighter weights or no weights at all.
After you’ve completed the full set on your right arm, repeat it on the left side. Even though you’ll make the majority of your pickleball shots with your dominant hand, you still have to train both shoulders to maintain a balanced body.
Move 3: Shoulder circles with a mini-band
Grab a mini-band and place it over each of your wrists. Put your knees on the ground and then place your palms flat on the floor in front of you, ensuring the band is stretched between both wrists.
Keep your left palm pressed into the floor and raise your right palm a few inches off the ground. Now, moving from the shoulder, begin to create a small circle with your right hand. This motion will tax the small muscles in your shoulder.
As you complete these motions, make sure your core is strong and your back is flat. Complete about 10 clockwise circles and 10 counterclockwise circles with your right arm before switching to your left arm.
Move 4: Arm with a resistance band
Grab a large resistance band and anchor it in a doorway or an exercise machine. (Or if your partner is nearby, have them hold it for you!)
To start, stand with your feet hip-width apart. With the hand that is furthest from the resistance band, bring the band across your body and hold it at waist level. Externally rotate your hand so that your elbow is tucked to your waist with your wrist out to the side.
While keeping your arm externally rotated, raise your wrist above your shoulder. Make sure to stop the motion before you feel a pinch in your shoulder. Lower your arm back to waist level and internally rotate your hand back to the starting position.
This motion will help strengthen the muscles you need to execute backhand shots. Repeat this motion 10 times with each arm. If you find the motion too easy, stretch the band further from its anchor. If it’s too hard, move closer to the anchor
How to avoid shoulder pain while playing pickleball
Your shoulder will see a lot of motion while playing pickleball — that’s natural. And while you can’t help the repetitive nature of the game, you can ensure you’re moving properly to avoid injury.
While on the court, you should keep your chest up nice and tall, even when squatting to hit dinks. It’s also important to keep your shoulder pulled down away from your ear.
When you reach up to hit an overhead shot, ensure your shoulder isn’t scrunching up toward your ear. This can cause neck pain or injury and puts an additional, unnecessary load on your shoulder.
Believe it or not, your non-dominant hand is also integral to ensuring your dominant shoulder is safe. When making a shot, your hands tend to meet in the middle. So, if your non-dominant hand is kept low while you are making an overhead, your dominant hand has a lot further distance to travel after the shot is made.
Instead, you should bring your non-dominant hand up above your shoulder. Not only can you use your non-dominant hand as a guide to help you hit the ball, but it also ensures that both your shoulders are on the same plane of motion, which helps you avoid unnaturally twisting your dominant shoulder.
Stretching and strengthening your shoulder for pickleball
Even following best practices, you may still experience shoulder pain or tenderness when off the court. When you’re not playing, it’s important to take the time to address the muscle groups that can affect your shoulder pain.
Here are a few key exercises to help alleviate shoulder pain — and all you need is a pickleball!
Move 1: Relaxing your chest muscles with a pickleball
Grab your pickleball and head to the ground. While lying flat on your stomach, place the pickleball on your pectoral muscle, or chest, just to the inside of your right shoulder. Extend your right arm out to the side.
Roll gently on top of the ball until you find a tender spot. Once you find a spot, hold in place. Now, begin moving your right arm up and down to find the most tender spot.
Now, keep your right arm where it is and lean into the tender area by twisting toward your left, using your left arm for support. As you breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth, begin moving your right arm again to see if you can extend your range of motion.
Move 2: Stretching your chest muscles
Now that you have relieved the tension, it’s time to stretch your chest so that you can further lengthen the muscles.
Sit up on your knees in front of your couch or a low chair. Extend your right arm back behind you with your thumb facing up. Grab onto the arm of the couch or chair and slowly turn your torso away from your arm.
Notice where you are feeling the stretch. If it’s in your shoulder, you may need to elevate yourself. Can you lift taller on your knees? If not, stand up and head to a doorframe where you can lower your arm to help stretch properly. You should feel the stretch in your chest muscles.
Hold for at least 30 seconds, breathing in through your nose and out through your mouth.
Move 3: Massaging back tension with a pickleball
After relieving the pain in the front of your body, you need to alleviate your back pain so that your body is balanced.
Grab your pickleball and lie down on your back with your knees bent upward. Place the pickleball behind your back, close to your right shoulder blade.
Again, begin rolling gently to find a tender area. Once you find a tender area, extend your right arm over your head. Slowly make a half circle down to your waist, exploring where it is most tender.
Keep your arm extended in the most tender area and hold for at least 30 seconds before moving on to another tender area.
Move 4: How to stretch your lat muscles
Sit on your hands and knees about arms distance away from a low piece of furniture, such as a coffee table. Place your hands on the table and begin leaning backward to lower your body toward the floor.
Once you have lowered your body, tilt your hips forward to engage your core and glutes. This will deepen the stretch into your lats.
Move 5: Stretching your shoulder and upper back
Head back to the ground and lie down on your stomach. Bring your right arm under your chest and stretch it to the left side of your body, with your palm facing up.
Use your left hand to help you rotate gently toward the shoulder that is on the ground. Hold for at least 30 seconds while focusing on your breathing.
