Australia’s eyecare professionals need to be ready.
Pickleball, the seemingly quirky paddle pastime once beloved by retirees, is now a fast-growing sport bringing a surge in eye injuries.
A study published in JAMA Ophthalmology shows that it’s not just the number of participants that is growing rapidly, with an estimated 20 million in the US trying their hand at the sport in 2024.
Researchers found that pickleball-related eye injuries more than doubled between 2021 and 2024, to more than 400 cases annually in the US.
Between 2005 and 2024, an estimated 3,112 Americans headed to the emergency room with pickleball-related eye injuries, with roughly 1,262 of those cases in 2024.
For context, the number of documented pickleball eye injuries before 2014 was zero.
The sport is on the rise in Australia as well.
In 2023 the Pickleball Australia Association reported its paid membership was 15,166. More recent reports put the number of players at between 90,000 and 150,000 people.
The study suggested that inexperience was the cause of many of the injuries.
“Although the increase in ocular injuries may simply reflect the increasing number of players, it is also possible that casual players are more susceptible to injury due to limited experience,” researchers wrote.
Pickleball might be a scaled down version of tennis, but the there is nothing minor about some of the injuries eyecare professionals are seeing.
Cases include periocular lacerations (cuts around the eye), corneal abrasions, inflamed irises, and, in some instances, vision-threatening conditions like retinal detachments, globe trauma, orbital fractures, and hyphema.
The statistics are particularly concerning for older adults: 70% of all reported injuries occurred in players aged 50 and above, according to the research.
“Many older patients are not as agile to avoid trauma or contact from a ball or paddle or have pre-existing eye diseases that would put them at higher risk for a significant eye injury,” the study said.
