Physiological Effects Of Playing Pickleball And Skill Level

PURPOSE: The Sports & Fitness Industry Association announced pickleball as the fastest growing sport in the U.S. the last 3 years, with an 185% increase over this timespan. To date only two studies have been conducted on the game and its impact on peoples’ health and physiological changes. However, it is unknown if different skill levels of pickleball players respond physiologically differently during game play. The purpose is to identify the physiological effects of pickleball based on skill level. METHODS: 109 recreational pickleball players have been tested to date. Participants wore Hexoskin shirts that measured heart rate, breathing rate, and cadence while they played pickleball. Participants performed a 5-minute rest, 30 – 45 minutes of recreational pickleball play with matched skill level players, a Borg Perceived Exertion Scale, and a 5-point enjoyment Likert Scale. RESULTS: Descriptive analysis showed no differences between skill levels on total play time (Mean = 36.94 minutes, p = 0.35); number of games played (Mean = 3.00, p = 0.08); Perceived Exertion (Mean = 13.20, p = 0.81); and Enjoyment (Mean = 4.79, p = 0.89) ANCOVAs controlling for gender and age indicated no significant differences between groups during rest on Breathing Rate (F = 1.07, p = 0.38), Heart Rate (F = 1.73, p = 0.13) and Cadence (F = 0.80, p = 0.56). Playing pickleball indicated no significant difference between groups for Breathing Rate (F = 1.63, p = 0.16) or Heart Rate (F = 1.79, p = 0.12). However significant differences between groups was found for Cadence (F = 4.58, p < 0 .01, ƞ2 = 0.29). Correlations indicated significant relationships between Skill Level and Heart Rate (p < 0.01) and Skill Level and Cadence (p < 0.01) but not between Skill Level and Breathing Rate (p = 0.09) CONCLUSIONS: Pickleball players tend to play the same number of games in similar time frames with the same amount of effort and high levels of enjoyment. Increased cadence occurs with increased pickleball skill level indicating that as pickleball players improve in skill they are moving on the playing court more than lower skilled players. While heart rate did not see a similar significant effect of skill level the correlation is still there. Perhaps larger and equal sample sizes as we collect additional data will demonstrate a significant effect here.