Managing aches and pains

[Ready]

At 51 I consider myself fortunate that I've been in good health and free of any significant aches and pains. That is until about a month ago.

I started playing pickleball last month, and now my feet hurt, my ankles hurt, I've had pain in my groin, my lower back and my upper leg. I've probably overdone it by playing up to six hours in one day, but in general I play for about two hours a day, maybe five days a week. Almost every time I play I end up hurting afterwards.

I've tried taking Aleve, and it works very well for about 6 hours, but when it wears off the pain comes right back. I've also just started taking a topical cream (Topricin), and I just purchased Penetrex cream but haven't tried it yet.

I always do about 10 minutes of stretching before I play. I was wearing lower end tennis shoes but just purchased a good pair of Asics court shoes to try out.

So for those of you who have had similar experiences, a few questions:

1) What have you done to manage the pain? What has been effective, what has not?

2) How do you determine if you are overdoing it? Do you play through the pain, or wait until it completely goes away before you start playing again?

I last played on Tuesday night, so I've been off the court now for 48 hours. On Tuesday my entire body ached, and Wednesday wasn't much better. Today I'd say I'm about feeling about 90%. In the past when the pain has been excessive I've taken 3-5 days off and it always seems to go away after the second or third day. So I know if I stop playing I'll probably be fine. But it's kind of addictive, so I'm hoping to find a way to play without it being so painful.

 

[W2R]

Right now as I type my back is "killing me"... It feels like maybe a soft tissue pain, not spinal pain, so I think I either strained or pulled a muscle. How did I do it? You'll get a laugh from this. I was cutting up a big Amazon Prime Pantry box with a dull box cutter, probably more enthusiastically than was wise. Well, and before that I lugged the box in from the porch and unpacked it.

Thank goodness for my heating pad. It isn't taking away the pain, but it is making it more bearable. I don't take OTC pain meds if I can bear to not do that, although I have some prescription ibuprofen and even hydrocodone in the medicine cabinet if things get too bad. But I prefer to tough it out.

Ow.

As for pain from exercise such as you are experiencing, I think the best advice I can give is to ease into any exercise program. The older we get, the more caution is in order.

 

[Amethyst]

Good grief, man! No wonder you hurt! That is a lot of jumping around, and it sounds like you have some overuse injuries going on.

I don't play sports due to a leg length discrepancy, but I do strenuous yard work, for weeks at a time, several times a year...and would never jump right into 2-3 hours a day. Even with gym conditioning, I have put myself on the floor with back spasms because I did too much of one unaccustomed movement or another.

In your shoes (literally) I would have worked up gradually from 30 minutes at a time. Now that injury has occurred, I would lay off and let myself heal, then work up gradually again. And I would hire a personal trainer for a few sessions to learn about proper stretching and strengthening for extended sessions on court.

Good luck!

I started playing pickleball last month, and now my feet hurt, my ankles hurt, I've had pain in my groin, my lower back and my upper leg. I've probably overdone it by playing up to six hours in one day, but in general I play for about two hours a day, maybe five days a week. Almost every time I play I end up hurting afterwards.
.

 

[Midpack]

I’m reminded every day I’m not a 20-30 something anymore. I still stay active and exercise almost every day, but I have to pace myself. If I’m starting a new exercise, or activity I work up to it gradually - six hours of pickle ball in one day is a lot if you didn’t work up to it.

Soreness comes on later (that’s been a surprise) but it takes longer to get over. There’s no managing it that I know of, you just do your best...

 

[Corporateburnout]

You're overdoing it. Never played pickleball but I've been playing tennis for 40 years. I'm older than you but when I was your age I've played 3 times/ week for 1.5 hours but now I only play doubles twice a week. I found that my body needs at least one or two days to recover. I find that stretching and a couple of Advil before I play and two more before going to sleep help reduce the soreness quite a bit.

 

[calmloki]

yeah. the older you get the more you hurt. Then you die. Find a moderate place - it moves, so your activity will as well.

 

[Floridatennisplayer]

You have to work up to it. I’ll be 63 next month. I play tennis 4 times a week, singles, against guys half my age for 2 hours at a time.

Only buy top rated tennis shoes. Check out Tennis Warehouse. Asics Gel Resolution 7 and Nike Zoom Vapor Tours are amazing. Take glucosamine , turmeric..it really helps. Rest your body

 

[Jerry1]

You jumped in head first. You have to build up. I don't know about pickleball, but I'd think a week or two of non-competitive hitting the ball around then add in some competitive time about 1/2 hour per session 2-3 times a week. So week three would have about 3 sessions of about 1/2 hour - so 1.5 hours of competitive action. Week 4 would be about 3 sessions of about 45 min. The rest of the time, work on your form and go light. And frankly, it's not about being old. Age may affect the recovery time, but just about anyone at any age can over exert and cause yourself problems.

 

[Chuckanut]

My experience has been that it is easier to injure oneself as we age and the healing time is longer. It's probably best to ease into a new activity. The biggest mistake I have made is to jump into a new activity, injure myself, and then be sidelined for 4-6 weeks while I heal. Much better to send those 4-6 weeks working up to an increased activity level. And a heck of a lot more fun!

I also do some Qigong, which basically gets the joints moving, twisting and keeps them limber. I don't go along with the idea of 'chi' energy flowing through my body, but the movement itself is very helpful - call it 'chi' or whatever one wants.

 

[calico1597]

DH and I were supposed to take a beginners lesson yesterday for pickleball. Rained, so we didn't go. Maybe I'll rethink this. I had both knees replaced in 2016.

 

[ClayMore]

There’s a topical named Penetrx that is working well for me on my lower back and shoulder joint pain.

 

[Bamaman]

My wife swears by Volteran Gel which is both anti inflammatory and anti pain topical gel by prescription. The stuff is magical for backs.

And she also uses a lotion with lidocaine like is advertised on television for specific pain.m it is some great stuff too.

 

[Nemo2]

Started running in my 30s, (got up to doing 10 miles a day, 7 days a week, at one point, until I developed a stress fracture on my right tibia and had to pull back a little), wearing tensor bandages, because my knees were shot - ran a marathon in 1984 while wearing the bandages.

Told by two orthopedic surgeons, (1998 & 2001), that I'd eventually have to have both knees replaced - so far have managed to avoid that.

Took up cycling after my late wife died in early 2002 - was doing 50 miles a day, every day - 2005 developed contact dermatitis on my butt....no more biking.

2007, knocked down and run over while out walking by a large truck belonging to the City of Ottawa - among other things left foot fractured/ankle bone exposed - paramedics thought I might lose the foot. Walking around 7 miles a day at that time.

Had run ins with sciatica - debilitating.

Nowadays, (76 this year), I try and do 40 minutes every day on the elliptical on 'interval' setting, plus a few sets of 50 squats holding a light (10lb) weight in front to me, (recommended by physio for the sciatica which manifests itself in my right hip)......oh, and my right shoulder 'crunches'.

Takes me a moment to get started in the morning...have a Tylenol with breakfast for L5 lower back issues.....visit the chiro once a month.

Always follow the 'Family Motto' of Combibo is sursum ranunculus - ('Suck It Up, Buttercup')........because things will get worse.

And...in 57 days...we're off to Romania with small backpacks...to jump trains and see what we can discover.

(Almost forgot....undergoing investigation on my left hand that seizes up at night....possible carpal tunnel......and, as a result of shingles, ongoing treatment for scarring on my left cornea.)

 

[donheff]

I'm hitting 70 this year and ride a bike about 100 miles per week in good weather and lift weights twice a week with no problems. Yet if I run at all or walk more than three or four miles my joints start hurting. Some of us just don't do well with impact exercises.

 

[Ronstar]

Sometimes the pain takes a long time to subside. It took several months before knee pain subsided after my last marathon just over a year ago. Like OP, I took Aleve, but the pain came back.

The pain will keep coming back unless you modify your routine. Take some days off from pickleball frequently. Also reduce sugar and carbs in your diet to reduce inflammation. And for the lower back, my chiro advised bridge up exercises. They work for me in strengthening and eliminating lower back pain.

 

[John Galt III]

I no longer do pushups because 2 days later I get soreness and stiffness in my upper left back, lower left neck area. I figure whatever is in there is getting aggravated and worse from the pushups. I don't plan to go to physical therapy for it since I think that will just make it worse also! Living with it. Living without pushups.

 

[RunningBum]

I'd take a week or two off, then ease back slowly into it. I understand the addiction, but think long term. Better to still be playing many years down the line than to fight through it for another month and possibly take yourself out of it for good. At the very least, cut way back now, but I think it's better to recover and then start over the right way.

While you're taking time off, do some flexibility exercises. I googled "Pickleball exercises" and got a bunch of hits. Pick what makes sense for you.

In your 20s you possibly could've played through the soreness. On the back side of 50 that doesn't seem like a good idea.

 

[Nemo2]

Living without pushups.

Oh yeah....in the late 1990s, (age around 57), I was still doing pushups.....decided, one day, to triple my quota....blew out my right elbow......that was the end of that.

Buddy of mine in Riyadh, in great shape, a far, far, better runner than me, (and who developed prostate cancer at a young age), was fond of saying "Life is hard, then you die".

 

[latexman]

My wife swears by Volteran Gel which is both anti inflammatory and anti pain topical gel by prescription. The stuff is magical for backs.

And she also uses a lotion with lidocaine like is advertised on television for specific pain.m it is some great stuff too.

From time to time inflammation flares up in my hands and fingers. I use a generic Voltaren (diclofenac sodium topical gel) on them for one or two times/nights and they are as good as new. I agree, it's magic. You can feel it healing it works so fast. And, you are putting the medicine right where it's needed, not distributing it throughout your body (oral).

 

[Nemo2]

I agree, it's magic. You can feel it healing it works so fast.

Does it heal or disguise, (and I do, very infrequently, use Voltaren, although I'm not totally comfortable (pun intended) with NSAIDs)?

 

[Mdlerth]

Pain is my constant companion

Get yourself a hot tub.

Wait... did I get this thread confused with the Blow That Dough one?

 

[Ready]

Thanks everyone for the feedback. I guess I needed to hear it from others, but now I see that I overdid it getting started, and I guess I had not accepted the fact that I can't exercise in my 50s the way I did in my 20s. It's hard for me to accept but I get it.

Floridatennisplayer - thanks for the shoe tip. I checked the box for the shoes I just bought and they are the Asics Gel-Resolution 7, so I'm glad to hear they have worked well for you.

ClayMore - glad to hear the Penetrex works for you. I just received a container from Amazon, and will probably try it out later today.

calico1597 - I hope I haven't discouraged you from giving Pickleball a try, since it really is a lot of fun. The reason I think it's easy to overdo it is because you don't really work up that much of a sweat playing since the court is fairly small. I only play doubles. Playing singles would be very rough on your body and I wouldn't recommend it. Even playing doubles, while it may not be all that intense aerobically, it does take a pounding on your joints running up and down and side to side on the court, so you have to just manage how much time you play and then watch for aches and pains the next day.

Most of the folks I play with are in their 60s and 70s and they have been playing for years so they are very good. I got frustrated because as a new player I was making a lot of mistakes and losing all of my matches, so I figured I'd get as many hours of play time as possible to build my skill level up. In my quest to do so I ignored the aches and pains until they became pretty severe. In retrospect I wasn't demonstrating good common sense. It's easy to do when you want to get better at something and ignore the cost of doing so.

Pickleball is a very social sport. You show up by yourself and next thing you know people are asking you to join their doubles match because they need a fourth. Everyone is very nice and you don't want to let people down by saying no.

But at this point I need to take some time off until everything is fully healed, and then I'll start up again but limit my play time to an hour or less and see how things work out.

 

[Ready]

Get yourself a hot tub.

Wait... did I get this thread confused with the Blow That Dough one?

I have been soaking in a hot tub that I have access to in my local gym actually, and it does feel great while I'm in there. It's great for stretching. But people tell me that soaking in a hot tub is bad for inflammation because the warm water increases the inflammation. They tell me to use ice. I'm never really sure when to use heat and when to use ice. I find it very confusing.

 

[RunningBum]

I've never played the game, but I'd guess that there are quick moves that you aren't used to making, and that is a big part of the soreness.

I used to play softball every summer. I took a few years off, then joined a team again, in my early 40s, playing infield. I felt like I got very little exercise, but the quick moves going after grounders, and trying to stretch doubles into triples (Ha! maybe it was running out popups!) made me really sore the next day. After a few games it was better.

I'm guessing that pickleball has more quick moves than softball, and you were at it a lot longer than a softball game takes.

 

[latexman]

Does it heal or disguise, (and I do, very infrequently, use Voltaren, although I'm not totally comfortable (pun intended) with NSAIDs)?

Since I use it only 1-2 times/days and the inflammation goes away for many months, it heals it. Targeting the local area externally is why I like it, I don't have to ingest the NSAIDs.