Injury Data · Updated July 2026

Padel Injury Statistics2026: Every Number, Sourced

The most complete, fully-cited collection of padel injury data anywhere — incidence rates, body-part breakdowns, padel vs tennis, and the eye-injury numbers nobody talks about. Every statistic links to its peer-reviewed source.

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85.4%

Injury prevalence among padel players — vs 39–46% in tennis

3–8

Injuries per 1,000h — 3 in training, 8 in match play

30–74%

Elbow share of all padel injuries across studies

In short: padel players get injured at roughly 3 injuries per 1,000 hours of training and 8 per 1,000 match hours, with studies reporting that 40–95% of players have been injured. The elbow is the most common site (30–74% of injuries), tendon and muscle injuries dominate, and padel carries a measurably higher injury prevalence than tennis (85.4% vs 39–46%). Padel is also now the #1 cause of sports-related eye injuries in Swedish registry data. Every figure below is linked to its peer-reviewed source.

The 10 Key Padel Injury Statistics

The numbers that define injury risk in padel — each one sourced

  1. 1. Padel players sustain approximately 3 injuries per 1,000 hours of training and 8 injuries per 1,000 match hours, according to a systematic review of 8 studies covering 2,022 players. (Source: Dahmen et al. 2023, BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine)
  2. 2. Between 40% and 95% of padel players report having suffered an injury, depending on the study population and recall period. (Source: Dahmen et al. 2023, systematic review)
  3. 3. Padel shows an injury prevalence of 85.4% — substantially higher than tennis (39–46%) and squash (58%) in a comparative systematic review. (Source: Comparative systematic review, 2025)
  4. 4. The elbow is the most commonly injured site in padel, accounting for 30–74% of injuries across studies — the classic “padel elbow” (lateral epicondylalgia). (Source: Comparative systematic review, 2025)
  5. 5. Tendon injuries make up 44–49% and muscle injuries 27–34% of all padel injuries — overuse dominates over acute trauma. (Source: Comparative systematic review, 2025)
  6. 6. A 2025 German Level-1 trauma centre study of 234 players measured 4.03 injuries per 1,000 hours of exposure, with the lower leg/ankle/foot the most affected region (18%). (Source: Meyer et al. 2025, J Sports Med Phys Fitness)
  7. 7. Among recreational players, 36.5% were injured in the previous year (2.81 injuries per 1,000 hours), with 53.5% of injuries in the lower limb. (Source: Cross-sectional study 2025, Physical Therapy in Sport)
  8. 8. Padel became the number-one cause of sports-related eye injuries in a Swedish regional registry by 2021, accounting for 20% of 255 recorded sports eye injuries — 4% with permanent effects. (Source: Kasiga et al. 2024, Acta Ophthalmologica)
  9. 9. Professional players get injured significantly more often than amateurs (P<0.001), and players with no previous racquet-sport background suffer significantly more elbow injuries (P<0.001). (Source: Meyer et al. 2025)
  10. 10. Neuromuscular warm-up programmes (the FIFA 11+ model) reduce overall sports injuries by roughly 30% (RR 0.70) in meta-analyses — no padel-specific programme has yet been validated, and researchers explicitly call for one. (Source: Sadigursky et al. 2017, BMC Sports Sci Med Rehabil)

Injury Rates: How Often Do Padel Players Get Hurt?

Incidence per 1,000 hours across the peer-reviewed literature

Injury incidence in padel clusters remarkably tightly across independent studies: 2.8–4.0 injuries per 1,000 hours of play. Match play is riskier than training — the 2023 systematic review reports the rate jumps from 3 per 1,000 training hours to 8 per 1,000 match hours, consistent with the explosive lunges, smashes and direction changes competition demands.
  1. 11. Match play carries roughly 2.7× the injury rate of training (8 vs 3 injuries per 1,000 hours). (Source: Dahmen et al. 2023)
  2. 12. A 2026 scoping review across 14 studies and 3,581 players confirms overuse injuries and the upper limb dominate padel injury patterns. (Source: Scoping review 2026, Applied Sciences)
  3. 13. Among Chilean amateur players, 53.8% reported an injury within just 6 months. (Source: Cross-sectional study, PMC 2025)

Which Body Parts Get Injured Most?

Elbow first, then knee, ankle, calf and shoulder

The padel injury map is distinctive: unlike tennis (shoulder-dominant) or football (knee/ankle), padel concentrates damage in the elbow — driven by the continental grip, wrist snap on the bandeja/víbora, and players arriving without racquet-sport conditioning. Below the waist, the calf (“tennis leg”), Achilles, knee and ankle carry the acute injury load. Full guides: padel elbow, knee pain, ankle pain, calf injuries.
  1. 14. Elbow injuries account for 30–74% of all padel injuries — the widest and most consistent finding in the literature. (Source: Comparative systematic review, 2025)
  2. 15. In the German trauma-centre cohort, the lower leg/ankle/foot was the most affected region (18%), and among non-professionals the knee led at 19.6%. (Source: Meyer et al. 2025)
  3. 16. In recreational players, 53.5% of injuries affect the lower limb — ankle sprains, calf tears and Achilles problems dominate the acute picture. (Source: Physical Therapy in Sport, 2025)
  4. 17. Among young padel players, the knee is the most commonly injured site, at 0.53 injuries per player per week of recall. (Source: Youth study, MDPI Sports 2025)

Padel vs Tennis vs Squash

The comparative injury picture

MetricPadelTennisSquash
Injury prevalence85.4%39–46%58%
Most-injured siteElbow (30–74%)Shoulder / elbowLower limb
Dominant tissueTendon 44–49%MixedMuscle/ligament
Why is padel riskier? The comparative review points at padel’s unique demands: enclosed-court rebounds forcing sudden direction changes, a heavy overhead shot repertoire on a short court, and — crucially — a flood of new players without racquet-sport conditioning, who suffer significantly more elbow injuries (see stat 9). See our padel elbow vs tennis elbow guide.

Eye Injuries: Padel’s Overlooked Emergency

The numbers behind the sport’s most serious preventable injury

  1. 18. A padel smash can propel the ball at up to 130 km/h, and the ball’s ~6.5 cm diameter closely matches the human eye socket — meaning it can strike the eyeball directly. (Source: University of Gothenburg, 2021)
  2. 19. In an Italian survey of 583 padel players, 10.3% reported ocular trauma, and roughly a quarter of those had lasting visual consequences. (Source: Nature Eye, 2026)
  3. 20. Certified polycarbonate sports eyewear reduces the risk of severe eye injury by approximately 90%. (Source: American Academy of Ophthalmology)
Protective eyewear is the single highest-impact purchase in padel. See our evidence-based padel eye protection guide.
You know the feeling — everyone at your club has a story about an elbow that never quite healed or an ankle that went on the glass. Most players don’t realise the numbers behind those stories: padel’s injury prevalence is roughly double tennis’s. What actually works is knowing the data and training the weak links before they fail — we’ve been through it, and that’s why every number on this page links to a real study.

Who Gets Injured?

Pros vs amateurs, newcomers, youth — and the German data

  1. 21. Professionals are injured significantly more often than amateurs (P<0.001) — higher exposure and intensity outweigh better conditioning. (Source: Meyer et al. 2025)
  2. 22. Players without a previous racquet-sport background suffer significantly more elbow injuries (P<0.001) — technique matters as much as tissue capacity. (Source: Meyer et al. 2025)
  3. 23. Young players sustain 0.53 injuries per player per week of recall, with the knee most affected — load management matters early. (Source: MDPI Sports, 2025)

The Sport Is Exploding — So Is the Injury Pool

Market context: why these numbers matter more every year

  1. 24. Global player counts disagree by 15 million depending on who is counting: Playtomic reports 19.4 million players and 58,300 courts, while the FIP’s World Padel Report estimates 35 million+ players across 150 nations. Both are honest about the gap — treat every “padel has X million players” claim accordingly. (Sources: Playtomic Global Padel Report 2026 (with PwC Strategy&) · FIP World Padel Report 2025)
  2. 25. Britain passed 1,000,000 padel players in May 2026 — up from 400,000 at the end of 2024, 129,000 in 2023 and just 15,000 in 2019 — playing on 1,825 courts across 551 venues. (Source: LTA, 15 May 2026)
  3. 26. Germany has 2,141 padel courts across 658 facilities as of August 2026 — 58.3% of them indoor. Nordrhein-Westfalen leads with 663 courts; Berlin is the biggest city with 101. (Quelle: PadelCompass Padel-Atlas, Stand August 2026)
  4. 27. Global search interest in padel grew +49% year-on-year and hit its all-time high in September 2025. (Source: SGI Europe, 2025)
  5. 28. Padel overtook tennis in English Wikipedia readership in 2025 — 819,169 article views against 552,205 — and German-language readers now look padel up 2.7× more often than tennis (292,269 vs 109,657 views). October is the German-language attention peak. (Source: PadelRevive analysis of the Wikimedia Pageviews API (CC0), user traffic only, rename-adjusted, Jan 2023–Jul 2026)
Combine an 85% injury prevalence with tens of millions of new players and the conclusion writes itself: padel injury prevention is becoming a public-health topic. That is exactly why this page exists — and why our prevention hub and 8-week injury prevention program are built strictly from the evidence.

Methodology & How to Cite

Where these numbers come from and how to reuse them

Methodology: every statistic on this page is drawn from peer-reviewed studies (systematic reviews preferred), official registries, or named industry reports, and links directly to its source. Ranges are reported as published — where studies disagree, we show the range rather than picking a number. This page is re-verified and updated as new studies publish; figures were last verified July 2026. It is part of the PadelRevive evidence database, which requires at least two independent sources (or one authoritative systematic review/guideline) before any claim is published.

How to cite: you are welcome to reuse any statistic on this page with attribution — cite it as “PadelRevive — Padel Injury Statistics 2026 (padelrevive.com/injuries/padel-injury-statistics/)”, and please also credit the primary study linked next to the number. Journalists and researchers: for questions or the underlying source list, contact info@padelrevive.com.

Keep Reading

Padel Elbow: Causes, Treatment & RecoveryRecover faster between matches8-Week Injury Prevention ProgramEvidence-rated padel shoesPadel warm-up routinePadel eye protection glasses

Padel Injury Statistics: Frequently Asked Questions

The quick, sourced answers

How common are padel injuries?

Very common: studies report that 40–95% of padel players have suffered an injury, with an incidence of roughly 3 injuries per 1,000 hours of training and 8 per 1,000 match hours (Dahmen et al. 2023). A 2025 German study measured 4.03 injuries per 1,000 hours.

What is the most common padel injury?

The elbow — lateral epicondylalgia or “padel elbow” — accounting for 30–74% of all padel injuries across studies. Tendon injuries overall make up 44–49% of injuries.

Is padel more dangerous than tennis?

Padel shows a higher injury prevalence: 85.4% of padel players report injuries versus 39–46% of tennis players and 58% of squash players in a 2025 comparative systematic review. The pattern differs too — padel concentrates injuries in the elbow.

How dangerous are padel eye injuries?

More than most players realise: padel became the number-one cause of sports-related eye injuries in Swedish registry data by 2021, smashes reach 130 km/h, and 10.3% of players in an Italian survey reported ocular trauma. Certified polycarbonate eyewear reduces severe eye injury risk by about 90%.

Can padel injuries be prevented?

Largely, yes. Neuromuscular warm-up programmes reduce overall sports injuries by roughly 30% in meta-analyses (FIFA 11+ model), and progressive strength work protects the tendons that padel loads hardest. No padel-specific programme has been validated yet — researchers explicitly call for one.

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