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Padel elbow and calf strains. What prevents them?
Elbow: relax the grip, add an overgrip, consider a softer racket. Calves: warm up properly and take rest days.
You have been playing three times a week and your elbow and calves are starting to complain. What are the usual causes and fixes?
Elbow: relax the grip, add an overgrip, consider a softer racket. Calves: warm up properly and take rest days.
Why
The two common padel complaints have common causes. Elbow pain usually comes from gripping too tightly, especially on volleys and blocks, often made worse by a stiff, head-heavy racket with a hard core. The vibration goes into the tendon. The fixes are a bigger, fresher grip, a relaxed hold with the fingers, and if it persists, a softer racket. Calf and Achilles strains come from cold starts, sudden sprints for drop shots in the first game, and playing on consecutive days without recovery. A proper dynamic warm-up, calf raises in the week, and a rest day between sessions prevent most of them.
What this means at your level
Beginner
Loosen your grip, warm up for five minutes before you hit, and do not play four days in a row. That fixes most of it.
Intermediate
If the elbow persists, try a friend's softer, round racket for a session. If the pain drops, the racket was part of the problem.
Advanced
Eccentric calf raises, slow lowering off a step, are the single best Achilles insurance a padel player can buy. Three sets, three times a week.
Common questions
You have been playing three times a week and your elbow and calves are starting to complain. What are the usual causes and fixes?
Elbow: grip and racket stiffness. Calves: cold starts, no rest. Elbow: relax the grip, add an overgrip, consider a softer racket. Calves: warm up properly and take rest days. The two common padel complaints have common causes. Elbow pain usually comes from gripping too tightly, especially on volleys and blocks, often made worse by a stiff, head-heavy racket with a hard core. The vibration goes into the tendon. The fixes are a bigger, fresher grip, a relaxed hold with the fingers, and if it persists, a softer racket. Calf and Achilles strains come from cold starts, sudden sprints for drop shots in the first game, and playing on consecutive days without recovery. A proper dynamic warm-up, calf raises in the week, and a rest day between sessions prevent most of them.
Why not both are just part of playing: push through?
Pushing through tendon pain turns a month off into a season off. Both problems have fixes.
What should a beginner do here?
Loosen your grip, warm up for five minutes before you hit, and do not play four days in a row. That fixes most of it.
How does this change for an advanced player?
Eccentric calf raises, slow lowering off a step, are the single best Achilles insurance a padel player can buy. Three sets, three times a week.
Puzzles like this one
Your partner pulls a muscle. Can you stop the match?
A short medical timeout for a genuine injury, requested through the referee. Not unlimited, and not for fatigue.
advancedThird set, legs tired. Do you keep smashing?
Tired legs, fewer smashes. Hold the net with the bandeja and save the smash for the easy ones.
beginnerWhat does a proper padel warm-up look like?
Warm-up: five minutes of dynamic movement, then hit every shot you will use, ending with overheads and serves.