The research on injury risk differences, the strength work that matters, and how to build a padel career that lasts.
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The PadelRevive Team
Written by players, for players — built in Zanzibar · Updated May 2026
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Higher ACL Injury Risk — Female athletes sustain ACL injuries at a significantly higher rate than male athletes, linked to biomechanical and hormonal factors.
RED-S
Bone Stress Risk — Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport increases stress fracture risk and is underdiagnosed in female recreational athletes.
Fastest Growing
Women in Padel — Women are the fastest-growing player demographic in padel globally, with mixed doubles and women-only leagues expanding rapidly.
In short: women face specific biomechanical and hormonal factors that raise ACL and bone stress injury risk in court sports. The good news is that targeted strength training — especially hip abductor and single-leg work — directly reduces that risk. The goal is not to train around your biology. It is to train with it.
Why Padel Is Especially Well-Suited for Women
A sport designed for doubles, social play, and scalable intensity
Padel has grown faster among women than almost any other racket sport in the last decade. That growth is not accidental — the format of the game aligns exceptionally well with what most adult recreational athletes are looking for: social structure, controlled intensity, and a skill ceiling that rewards tactical thinking over raw power.
The doubles format is central to this. Every match is played four-to-a-court, which means the social element is built in from the first rally. Women-only leagues and mixed doubles nights have become fixtures at padel clubs across Europe, and the format encourages participation across a wide range of fitness levels. You do not need to be the strongest or fastest player on the court to contribute and win.
What Makes Padel a Great Fit
Doubles-only format means every session is social by design
Enclosed court reduces ball-chasing and rewards positioning over speed
Scalable intensity — competitive or casual, the same court works for both
Glass walls keep rallies alive longer, making it accessible for beginners
Shorter rallies and natural recovery breaks suit varied fitness levels
Growing women-only leagues and mixed doubles nights in most padel clubs
Padel also has a lower barrier to entry than tennis. The shorter racket, the underarm serve, and the enclosed court all reduce the technical complexity of getting into a rally. Most women who try padel for the first time can sustain a point within a few sessions — something that takes much longer in tennis. That quick competence is a powerful hook.
Finding Your Local Women’s Padel Community
Most padel clubs in Spain, Sweden, Italy, Germany, and the UK now run women-only mornings or beginner-friendly mixed sessions. Ask at your local club, search local Facebook groups, or check national federation websites for organised women’s leagues.
Injury Risk Differences in Female Padel Players
Understanding the biology so you can train around it — not ignore it
The most important thing to know about injury risk in female athletes is this: the differences are real, they are well-documented, and they are manageable. Understanding them is the first step toward training intelligently rather than reacting to injuries after they happen.
ACL Injury Risk: The Q-Angle Factor
The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is the primary stabilising ligament of the knee. Female athletes sustain ACL injuries at a higher rate than male athletes across court and field sports. Several biomechanical factors contribute to this.
The Q-angle — the angle between the hip and the knee joint — is typically wider in women due to differences in pelvic structure. A wider Q-angle creates a tendency for the knee to drift inward (valgus collapse) during landing, deceleration, and direction changes. On a padel court, these movements happen constantly: every split step, every lunge for a low ball, every recovery after a smash. That valgus collapse under load is the primary mechanical cause of ACL injury in court sports.
Hormonal factors also play a role. Oestrogen affects ligament laxity — the degree to which ligaments stretch under load. Research suggests that ligament laxity increases during certain phases of the menstrual cycle, which may affect ACL injury risk timing. This is an area of active research and should not be alarmist: most women play and train throughout their cycle without incident. But it is a reason to be thoughtful about load during high-intensity sessions, which we cover in the hormonal considerations section.
Valgus Collapse Is Trainable
Knee valgus during landing is not inevitable. Targeted hip abductor and glute strengthening directly improves knee tracking on court. This is the single most impactful thing a female padel player can add to her training to reduce ACL risk.
Bone Stress Injuries and RED-S
Stress fractures and low bone density are more common in female athletes than male athletes, and the primary driver is energy availability. When training load is high and caloric intake does not match the energy demand, the body deprioritises bone maintenance. This condition — Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (RED-S) — is well-documented in competitive athletes but also occurs in recreational players who train frequently without adjusting their nutrition.
Calcium and vitamin D are the two most commonly deficient nutrients in female athletes with bone stress issues. Adequate calcium supports bone mineral density; vitamin D governs calcium absorption and is deficient in a large proportion of European adults who play indoor sports in winter. If you are training more than three sessions per week and experiencing persistent shin pain, foot pain, or hip pain that does not resolve with rest, bone stress should be ruled out by a sports medicine doctor before you return to court.
Nutrition for Bone Health
Dairy, leafy greens, fortified plant milks, and sardines are high-calcium options that fit easily into a padel player’s diet. Vitamin D3 supplementation (typically 1000-2000 IU/day) is widely recommended for athletes in northern Europe, especially in winter. Ask your doctor about checking your levels.
Ankle Sprains: Same Risk, Same Prevention
Ankle sprains are the most common acute injury in padel for both men and women. The asymmetric court movement, rapid direction changes, and lateral lunges all create lateral ankle sprain risk. The prevention approach is the same regardless of sex: single-leg balance work, ankle strengthening, and wearing footwear with appropriate lateral support. See our ankle strengthening guide for the specific exercises.
Strength Training for Female Padel Players
The movements that protect your joints and build your game
Strength training is the highest-return physical investment a female padel player can make. It improves bone density, reduces injury risk, increases court power, and extends your playing years. The concern that strength training will make women “bulky” is not supported by physiology — female hormonal profiles make hypertrophic muscle growth significantly harder to achieve than in male athletes, and the training volumes required for padel performance are nowhere near the threshold needed for significant size gains.
Hip Abductors and Glutes: Your ACL Shield
The gluteus medius and hip abductors are the primary muscles responsible for controlling knee valgus during dynamic movements. When these muscles are strong and active, the knee stays aligned over the foot during landings and direction changes. When they are weak or underactivated — which is extremely common in both men and women who spend long hours sitting — the knee collapses inward under load.
Hip and Glute Exercises for Court-Safe Knees
Clamshells — 3 sets of 15 per side, with a resistance band above the knees
Side-lying hip abduction — controlled movement, feel the glute med working
Glute bridges — progress to single-leg once you can do 20 reps cleanly
Lateral band walks — 10 steps each direction, 3 sets
Romanian deadlift — 3 sets of 8, focus on hinging at the hip not rounding the back
Hip thrust — load progressively; this builds posterior chain power for court push-off
Single-Leg Work: The Foundation of Court Movement
Almost every dynamic action in padel happens on one leg at a time. You push off one foot to reach the ball. You land on one foot after a jump. You change direction off a single-leg plant. Training bilateral (two-leg) exercises only leaves a gap that shows up as instability on court and increased injury risk.
Single-Leg Exercises to Prioritise
Single-leg RDL (Romanian deadlift) — 3 sets of 8 per side, dumbbells
Step-ups onto a box — 3 sets of 10 per side, controlled descent
Bulgarian split squat — 3 sets of 8-10 per side, body weight to start
Single-leg calf raises — 3 sets of 15, slow and controlled
Single-leg balance work — 30-60 seconds per side on an unstable surface
Lateral bounds (skater jumps) — 3 sets of 10 per side, stick each landing
Upper Body: Racket Control and Shoulder Protection
The padel swing is predominantly rotational, powered by the core and lower body, but the shoulder and wrist must be stable enough to transfer that power cleanly. Female players sometimes under-train the upper body out of concern about shoulder bulk — which is not a realistic outcome of functional strength training — and end up with shoulder instability that limits their game and predisposes them to rotator cuff issues.
Upper Body Priorities for Padel
Rotator cuff external rotation with a band — 3 sets of 15, slow and controlled
Rows (cable or band) — 3 sets of 12, retract the shoulder blade at the top
Push-ups — progress to incline, flat, and decline as you build strength
Wrist curls and reverse wrist curls — 2 sets of 15 each direction
Plank and side plank — core stability transfers directly to court stability
Anti-rotation press with a band — mimics the rotational bracing needed in padel
How to Structure Your Strength Sessions
Two sessions per week of 40-50 minutes is enough to see meaningful strength and injury-protection gains for recreational padel players. Prioritise lower body and core in session one, upper body and single-leg work in session two. Add a short warm-up set of hip activation before every padel session.
Hormonal Considerations for Female Athletes
Training smarter by understanding your cycle
The menstrual cycle affects more than reproduction. Oestrogen and progesterone fluctuations across the cycle affect energy levels, recovery speed, core temperature, ligament laxity, and even perceived exertion. Most sports science has historically been conducted on male subjects, so this area is less well-understood — but the research that does exist gives useful, practical guidance.
Cycle Phases and Performance
In the follicular phase (roughly days 1-14, beginning with menstruation), oestrogen rises and progesterone is low. Many female athletes report feeling stronger, more energetic, and more capable of high-intensity training during this phase. If you track your training data, you may notice faster recovery times and higher performance outputs in the first half of your cycle.
In the luteal phase (roughly days 15-28, after ovulation), progesterone rises and body temperature increases slightly. Some women report feeling heavier, more fatigued, and less capable of peak output. This is a normal physiological response, not a sign of poor fitness. Adjusting session intensity during the luteal phase — emphasising technical training, moderate aerobic work, and recovery — is a practical strategy supported by sports physiologists.
Ligament Laxity Mid-Cycle
Some research suggests ligament laxity peaks around ovulation due to the oestrogen surge. This does not mean you should avoid playing — it means warm-up quality and neuromuscular activation matter more on high-laxity days. Prioritise your hip activation routine and do not skip the warm-up.
Bone Health Monitoring for High-Volume Players
Women who train at high volumes — four or more padel sessions per week, plus gym work — should be aware of RED-S risk. The classic triad of disordered eating, amenorrhoea (loss of menstrual cycle), and low bone density is a clinical red flag. But RED-S exists on a spectrum: you do not need a clinical eating disorder for your bone health to be affected by under-fuelling relative to training load.
If you notice your menstrual cycle becoming irregular as your training volume increases, this is worth discussing with a sports medicine doctor or a GP familiar with athlete health. A DEXA scan (bone density scan) and a blood panel checking calcium, vitamin D, and iron levels gives you a baseline that is genuinely useful for long-term athletic health. See our padel nutrition guide for fuelling strategies that support high training loads.
You know the feeling — you come off the court after a hard session and something in your knee just does not feel right. Most players do not realise that the ache they dismiss as “just padel” is often a signal their hip stabilisers are not doing their job. What actually works is building the glutes and hip abductors before the problem arrives on court.
Building Your Padel Game for the Long Term
A sustainable approach from your first session to your hundredth
The goal of everything in this guide is the same: to help you play padel for as long as possible with as little time off as possible. That requires building the game intelligently rather than playing as much as possible and hoping the body keeps up.
Starting Out: The First Month
New padel players commonly underestimate the physical demands of the sport. Padel looks gentle from the sidelines — the court is small, the rallies are collaborative, the swings are compact. In practice, the lateral movements, the low-body positions, and the sustained effort across a one-hour match stress the hip flexors, calves, and shoulders in ways that catch new players off guard.
Your First Month on Court
Start with 1-2 sessions per week — do not add the third before your body has adapted
Take a beginner clinic rather than jumping straight into competitive play
Build a 5-10 minute hip activation warm-up you do before every session
Wear padel-specific shoes — the lateral support in running shoes is insufficient
Add one strength session per week from week one, focused on glutes and single-leg work
Plan recovery: adequate sleep and next-day easy movement matter more than stretching
Finding a Coach Who Understands Women’s Biomechanics
Not all padel coaches are equally equipped to work with female athletes. A coach who understands valgus collapse, who cues knee alignment during low balls, and who progressively builds footwork before tactics will keep you healthier and improve your game faster than one who simply feeds balls and corrects grip. When evaluating coaches, ask what they look for in terms of lower-body mechanics on court. The answer tells you a great deal about their depth of knowledge.
Connecting with Women’s Padel Groups
Women-only leagues and social padel groups have proliferated across Europe and Latin America as the sport has grown. Playing regularly with other women who are at a similar level accelerates skill development faster than always playing in mixed groups at a level above your current ability. National federations in Spain (FEP), Sweden (SPF), Italy (FIP), and Germany (DPV) all have directories of women’s leagues and clubs. Your local padel club almost certainly has or knows of a women’s programme.
Yes. Padel is excellent exercise for women of all ages and fitness levels. A typical one-hour doubles session involves sustained aerobic effort, lateral agility work, and upper body activity. The doubles format means intensity is naturally collaborative, making it accessible for beginners while still providing a solid cardiovascular and neuromuscular challenge for experienced players.
Do women have a higher injury risk in padel than men?
Women face different injury risk profiles rather than uniformly higher risk. ACL injury risk is higher in female athletes across court and field sports due to wider Q-angle biomechanics and hormonal influences on ligament laxity. Bone stress injuries are also more common in female athletes due to RED-S risk. However, ankle sprains — the most common padel injury overall — occur at similar rates. Targeted strength training significantly reduces these risks.
What strength training exercises are most important for women padel players?
Hip abductor and glute exercises (clamshells, glute bridges, hip thrusts, lateral band walks) are the highest priority because they directly improve knee alignment and reduce ACL risk. Single-leg exercises (Bulgarian split squats, step-ups, single-leg RDLs) train the specific movement patterns of padel. Two strength sessions per week of 40-50 minutes each is sufficient for meaningful protection and performance gains.
Is padel safe during pregnancy?
You should always consult your doctor or midwife before continuing or starting padel during pregnancy. In general, low-to-moderate physical activity is encouraged during uncomplicated pregnancies, but the lateral movements, direction changes, and risk of falls in padel make it a sport where individual medical advice is essential. Many women transition to walking, swimming, or prenatal yoga during pregnancy and return to padel after medical clearance postpartum.
How do I find women’s padel groups near me?
Most padel clubs now run women-only sessions or mixed beginner nights. Start by asking at your nearest padel club. National federations in Spain (FEP), Sweden (SPF), Germany (DPV), Italy (FIP), and the UK (LTA) all have club finders and women’s league directories on their websites. Local Facebook groups and Instagram community pages for padel in your city are also excellent starting points.
Should I adjust my training around my menstrual cycle?
Many female athletes find that tracking their cycle alongside their training data reveals useful patterns — higher performance in the follicular phase, more fatigue in the luteal phase. Adjusting session intensity accordingly (harder training in weeks 1-2, more technical and recovery-focused training in weeks 3-4) is a practical strategy supported by sports physiology research. It is not mandatory, but it is a sensible way to train with your biology rather than against it.
