Pickleball’s price: Sport may cost US up to $500M in injuries this year

A surprise surge in healthcare utilization rates has recently hit shares of big insurance companies — and a team of Wall Street analysts is blaming pickleball.

Earlier this month, UnitedHealth Group, the nation’s largest health insurer, warned that elective procedures like hip replacements and knee surgeries were rising in cost at an unexpectedly rapid clip — news that sent its shares tumbling more than 9% in a single day.

While some analysts initially blamed a slew of surgeries that had been delayed by the pandemic, a team of researchers at Swiss investment bank UBS attributed the increase to pickleball injuries — and calculated they’re poised to cost Americans at least $377 million this year, according to Bloomberg.

The wildly popular game, a cross between tennis, ping-pong and badminton, has become America’s fastest-growing sport after initially gaining traction in 2020.

After surging 86% to 8.9 million players in 2022, according to the Sports & Fitness Industry Association, UBS predicts that figure will spike to 22.3 million this year, according to Bloomberg.

Based on those exploding numbers, New York-based UBS analysts led by Andrew Mok calculated that pickleball could spark between $250 million and $500 million in healthcare capacity utilization and costs in 2023, the outlet reported.

The analysts reached the staggering, nine-figure forecast after examining the vast reach of the pickleball craze. In part, they cited a 2021 study titled “Non-fatal senior pickleball and tennis-related injuries treated in United States emergency departments, 2010-2019.”

The study focused on picklers aged at least 60 years old, and found that 21.5% of players experienced “non-injuries” such as cardiovascular events.

Injuries such as sprains were suffered by 33.2% of picklers, followed by fractures (28.1%) and contusions (10.6%) — with wrists and lower legs at the most risk of being hurt.

UBS analysts also looked at a 2020 study in the Journal of Emergency Medicine, titled “Pickleball-Related Injuries Treated in Emergency Departments,” where, again, the most common suffered were strains, sprains or fractures.

Patients 50 years and older accounted for 90.9% of the patients being treated for pickleball-induced injuries, the report found.

After analyzing the data, UBS estimated that 67,000 pickleball-related emergency room visits would be made in 2023, plus 366,000 outpatient visits; 8,800 outpatient surgeries; 4,700 hospitalizations; and 20,000 post-acute episodes, according to Bloomberg.

“While we generally think of exercise as positively impacting health outcomes, the ‘can-do’ attitude of today’s seniors can pose greater risk in other areas such as sports injuries, leading to a greater number of orthopedic procedures,” UBS concluded.

Despite the grim verdict, analysts said it could mean a hefty payday for healthcare.

Of the minimum estimated tab of $377 million, UBS estimates that $302 million, or 80%, is attributable to the outpatient setting and $75 million, or 20%, is attributable to the inpatient setting.