So what if a 2020 study found that 91% of pickleball injuries involved people aged over 50 (You should act your age – at least when it comes to exercise. Here’s why, 3 November)? Most pickleball players are over 50! I’d rather see active, smiling people with the odd strain than a generation glued to the sofa. The real health crisis isn’t overexercising – it’s inactivity.
Fitness is the biggest predictor of long-term health and independence. Ageing is inevitable, but fragility is not. Women in particular face an accelerated loss of bone and muscle through menopause, yet 84% of inactive women going through menopause want to be more active and 90% would get active if advised by a professional. There is still a societal acceptance that it is OK to be a fragile older lady behind a Zimmer frame with no bum in her trousers.
Supervised strength training and joyful movement aren’t risks, they’re medicine. Let’s encourage pickleball, hiking or dancing – anything that builds confidence and keeps people strong. Injuries we can manage, frailty we can’t.
Christien Bird
Pelvic health physiotherapist; co-founder, Menopause Movement
