Pickleball Injuries Are on the Rise: How SoftWave Therapy Gets You Back on the Court

Pickleball Is Taking Over Glendale. Is Your Elbow Ready for It?

Walk past any court in Glendale, La Crescenta, or the surrounding foothills on a weekend morning and you will see it: paddles in hand, players of every age from teenagers to retirees, all chasing the same addictive little plastic ball. Pickleball has exploded across the region, and with that explosion has come a steady stream of new patients walking into local clinics with sore elbows, cranky shoulders, achy knees, and tight calves. The sport is easy to learn and hard to put down, which is exactly why so many players push through nagging pain instead of addressing it.

Health Edge Sports & Spine in Glendale has seen this trend up close. Dr. Armen Manoucherian and the team have been fielding more and more questions from weekend warriors and daily regulars alike, all asking some version of the same thing: how do I keep playing without breaking down? One of the tools Dr. Armen and the team use to help answer that question is SoftWave Tissue Regeneration Technology, or SoftWave TRT, a non-invasive treatment designed to support the body's own repair process in tendons, ligaments, and other soft tissue. For pickleball players who do not want to sit out a season, that kind of drug-free, needle-free option can be a welcome alternative.

Why Pickleball Is So Hard on the Body

Pickleball looks gentle compared to tennis or basketball. The court is smaller and the rules limit how far you have to run. But that simplicity hides real physical demands. Players make quick lateral cuts, sudden stops, and repetitive overhead and underhand swings, often without much of a warm up. Many players are also returning to regular exercise after years away from competitive sport, which means tendons and connective tissue that have not been conditioned for this kind of repetitive load are suddenly asked to perform.

The result is a predictable pattern of overuse injuries rather than one-time trauma. Tendons and soft tissue take time to adapt to new stress, and when the stress builds up faster than the tissue can recover, pain follows.

The Most Common Pickleball Injuries We See

• Pickleball elbow (lateral or medial tendinopathy): Similar to tennis elbow, this shows up as pain on the outside or inside of the elbow from the repetitive wrist and forearm motion of paddle swings.
• Shoulder strain: Overhead serves, smashes, and reaching shots can irritate the rotator cuff and surrounding tendons, especially in players who have not built up shoulder strength or mobility.
• Knee pain: Quick pivots and lateral movement put stress on the knee joint and surrounding tendons, which can aggravate old injuries or create new irritation.
• Achilles and calf issues: The stop-and-go nature of the game, combined with quick pushes off the back foot, is a common trigger for Achilles tendinopathy and calf strains.
• Ankle sprains: Fast direction changes on a hard court surface make ankle sprains one of the most frequent acute injuries in the sport.

Some of these injuries happen suddenly, like an ankle rolling on a quick lateral step. But many, like elbow and Achilles tendinopathy, build slowly over weeks of play until the pain becomes hard to ignore. That slow build is exactly why so many players try to play through it rather than seek care right away, which often makes recovery take longer in the end.

How SoftWave Helps Pickleball Players Get Back on the Court

SoftWave TRT is not a typical shockwave device. It uses electrohydraulic, spark-generated technology to create broad-focused acoustic waves that travel through a patented parabolic reflector. That broad-focused design is what sets it apart from radial, electromagnetic, or piezoelectric devices, which tend to treat only a shallow area or a single point. SoftWave's broad-focused waves are able to penetrate more deeply into tendons and soft tissue, reaching the areas where overuse injuries like pickleball elbow and Achilles tendinopathy actually live.

The idea behind the technology is to trigger the body's own healing response rather than simply masking pain. In plain language, here is what that process looks like:

• Activates resident stem cells in the treated tissue and encourages them to migrate to the area that needs repair.
• Supports angiogenesis, the formation of new blood vessels, which helps improve blood flow to tendons and soft tissue that often have limited circulation.
• Increases cell proliferation and collagen production, which are building blocks for stronger, more resilient tendon tissue.
• Helps modulate inflammation, supporting a healthier healing environment instead of a prolonged inflammatory cycle.

For a condition like pickleball elbow, where the underlying issue is often degenerated tendon tissue rather than simple inflammation, this kind of regenerative approach can be a more direct way to address the root problem instead of just calming symptoms for a while.

What to Expect From Treatment

One of the biggest draws of SoftWave TRT for active pickleball players is that it is non-invasive. There are no needles, no drugs, and no surgery involved, and sessions typically run about 10 to 15 minutes. Most patients come in for a series of sessions over roughly 6 to 8 weeks, and healing is designed to continue building for weeks to months after the last visit as the tissue keeps remodeling.

That timeline matters for anyone who does not want to give up their weekly games. Because there is no real downtime after a session, many patients are able to keep living their normal routine while working through a treatment plan, rather than being sidelined for months waiting on an injury to resolve on its own.

SoftWave technology has been studied at leading institutions and is used by clinicians who work with professional and collegiate athletes. It is also FDA cleared for specific uses, including activation of connective tissue, temporary increase of local blood flow, and temporary relief of minor muscle and joint pain, along with treatment of chronic diabetic foot ulcers and acute second-degree burns. SoftWave is not a guaranteed cure and is not a replacement for a full medical evaluation. Many patients report meaningful relief, and the technology is designed to support the body's healing process, but individual results vary and a proper diagnosis always comes first.

If pickleball elbow, a cranky shoulder, or Achilles pain has been creeping up on your game, it may be time to have it looked at before it becomes something bigger. Reach out to Health Edge Sports & Spine to schedule a visit and find out whether SoftWave TRT could be part of your recovery plan.

Comparing Your Options

Traditional approaches to overuse injuries like pickleball elbow or Achilles tendinopathy often include rest, ice, anti-inflammatory medication, physical therapy, or in more stubborn cases, injections or surgery. Rest alone can help, but for many players it delays the return of symptoms once play resumes, since the underlying tendon tissue was never fully addressed. Injections can offer temporary relief but do not necessarily support long-term tissue repair, and surgery carries real recovery time that most weekend players want to avoid.

SoftWave TRT is designed to fit into that gap: a non-surgical, drug-free option focused on supporting the tissue's own regenerative process, with minimal disruption to an active lifestyle. For Glendale area players who just want to keep showing up to the courts, that combination is worth exploring.

Ready to Take the Next Step?

Do not let elbow, shoulder, or knee pain keep you off the pickleball court all season. A quick visit with Dr. Armen and the team can help you understand what is going on and whether SoftWave TRT belongs in your recovery plan.

Request your SoftWave Therapy new patient visit online today

Contact Health Edge Sports & Spine

Health Edge Sports & Spine
2600 Foothill Blvd, Suite 203
La Crescenta, CA 91214
Phone: (818) 724-4352
Our Main Office Website: https://healthedgela.com/