Padel, pickleball and wellbeing: a systematic review

Physical activity benefits mental health, yet the effects of emerging sports like padel and pickleball are understudied despite their accessibility and growth-300,000 amateur padel players worldwide and a 223.5% rise in U. S. pickleball players (2020-2023). This systematic review examines their asso...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Frontiers in psychology Vol. 16; p. 1614448
Main Authors: Lauxtermann, Lena, Stubbs, Brendon
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Switzerland Frontiers Media S.A 29.07.2025
Subjects:
mental health
paddle
pickleball
Psychology
tennis
wellbeing
pickleball
mental health
wellbeing
paddle
tennis
ISSN:1664-1078, 1664-1078
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Physical activity benefits mental health, yet the effects of emerging sports like padel and pickleball are understudied despite their accessibility and growth-300,000 amateur padel players worldwide and a 223.5% rise in U. S. pickleball players (2020-2023). This systematic review examines their association with mental health, wellbeing, and mental fatigue. An electronic search of Medline, PsycINFO, and Embase (inception to October 8, 2024; PROSPERO CRD42024594743) identified quantitative and observational studies on padel or pickleball participation and mental health or wellbeing outcomes. Fourteen of 71 studies (  1,403) were included. Pickleball enhances wellbeing, life satisfaction (  < 0.05), happiness (r = 0.263,  < 0.001), depression (r = -0.23,  < 0.01), and social integration, especially in older adults. In padel, higher-level and match-winning players show increased self-confidence and reduced somatic anxiety; pre-competition anxiety rises, varies by gender and score, and is lower than in tennis. Mental fatigue increases with successive padel games, impairing accuracy (  = 0.05) and linking to elevated motivation. Mental health research on padel and pickleball has expanded, revealing distinct areas of focus. Padel studies primarily target performance aspects like self-confidence, anxiety, and mental fatigue, while pickleball research highlights wellbeing gains in life satisfaction, happiness, and social integration. However, gaps remain, particularly regarding the exploration of wellbeing in padel and performance-related mental health (e.g., anxiety, fatigue) in pickleball across diverse age groups to address these gaps. Future studies should address these gaps and consider diverse age groups to provide a more comprehensive understanding. PROSPERO: The Unique Identifier is CRD42024594743, and the publicly accessible URL is https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?ID=CRD42024594743.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 23
ObjectType-Undefined-3
Diego Muñoz, University of Extremadura, Spain
Reviewed by: Cristian Mihail Rus, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, Romania
Edited by: Bernardino Javier Sánchez-Alcaraz Martínez, University of Murcia, Spain
ISSN:1664-1078
1664-1078
DOI:10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1614448