Association between paddle-tennis and other sports on the development of musculoskeletal disorders: a prospective cohort study

BACKGROUND: Musculoskeletal disorders constitute a heterogeneous group of pathologies of the osteoarticular system; they can have important repercussions on the individual’s social life and lead, with different timing and modalities, to a condition of disability and disability to work. In recent years, paddle tennis has become very popular among amateur athletes in Italy. The study’s objective is to analyze the association of non-competitive sports people of disciplines such as paddle tennis, tennis, and other sports with musculoskeletal disorders. METHODS: The study design chosen is a cohort observational study; it was conducted between May and September 2022. The simple study consists of amateur athletes who practice paddle tennis, tennis, and other sports and do not practice. The association analysis was carried out in terms of Odds Ratio (ORs) with a confidence interval (CI) of 95%. RESULTS: A total of 269 people categorized into four groups were recruited. Paddle-tennis manifests itself as a very strong risk factor compared to tennis on joint pain at the level of the right shoulder (OR 3.667; CI 1.152-11.667) and right elbow (OR 5.25; CI 1.282-21.506) while showing a very strong protective action compared to other sports on the districts of the cervical spine (OR 0.291; CI 0.145-0.583) and lumbar spine (OR 0.446; CI 0.228-0.873). CONCLUSIONS: Our study shows that padel, compared to tennis, is slightly more harmful, but not when compared to other sports and, above all, is much less harmful than not playing any sport.