Pickleball
4 Reasons Your Thumb Hurts After Pickleball or Padel (And It’s Not Just Your Grip)
Read on to find out what’s actually happening at the base of your thumb — and why it’s not about needing a better paddle technique.
I was two games into a Saturday session with the same three friends I’ve played with for two years, and on a fairly ordinary backhand, my thumb just gave out. Not from a hard hit — a completely routine shot I’ve played a thousand times. I had to sit the next game out, which is the part that actually annoyed me, because this is the one morning of my week that’s properly just mine.
1. You’ve Blamed This on Your Grip, Your Paddle, or Just Needing More Rest Days
The obvious explanations all seemed reasonable. Maybe my grip’s gotten sloppy. Maybe it’s the new paddle. So I changed my grip, tried a lighter paddle, added a rest day. The ache came back anyway, in exactly the same spot, after exactly the same kind of shots.
2. The Real Problem Is One Joint That Wasn’t Built for This Much Repeated Gripping
At the base of your thumb is a joint called the CMC — where your thumb meets your wrist. That joint is held in place by ligaments, and ligaments respond to oestrogen. As oestrogen drops through perimenopause, those ligaments lose collagen and get looser, and the joint that used to stay perfectly put starts to shift slightly under ordinary grip. One shift you’d never feel. But it happens constantly, all day, and a loose joint has nowhere to settle.
A paddle grip is about as repeated as grip gets — dozens of firm, twisting holds an hour, every session. That’s not a technique problem. It’s a joint that’s become less stable at exactly the stage of life a lot of women are picking this sport up or playing it more seriously than ever.
3. It Flares Hardest the Day After a Long Session, Not Necessarily During It
Some games I’d feel nothing at all until the next morning, when my thumb would be stiff and aching before I’d even picked anything up. That’s because once the joint’s been loaded hard and repeatedly, the tissue around it swells afterwards — often worse the next day than during the game itself.
4. Every “Fix” You’ve Tried Either Doesn’t Help or Stops You Playing Properly
Taping the thumb helps a little, for a little while, but doesn’t hold the joint steady through a full match. A rigid splint might stabilise it but locks the thumb up enough that you can’t grip a paddle properly at all. And “just play less” isn’t really an answer when this is the one regular thing that gets you outside, moving, and seeing the same friends every week.
So What Can You Actually Do About It?
- Support the one joint that’s actually unsteady, through a full match’s worth of repeated gripping
- Do it without locking the thumb, so you can still hold and swing a paddle properly
- Be comfortable enough to wear through a whole session without slipping or rubbing
So a hand therapist who specialises in midlife joint changes set out to build one.
FlexHold: Support for the Joint That Was Never About Your Technique
- A contoured pad supports the CMC joint at the base of your thumb, the exact one other braces miss
- Your thumb and all four fingers stay completely free, so you keep full use of your hand
- Soft, lightweight and breathable — comfortable enough to wear for hours, not just twenty minutes at a stretch
I left the link above if you want to have a look.
I haven’t sat out a game since.
— Diane