What’s the ‘Dill’ with Pickleball? PTs Talk Injury Trends & Opportunity

0:00 You're listening to the PG Pinecast, where smart people in healthcare come to make noise. Here's your host, Jimmy McKay. Well, this is the first, if you're watching the live stream, haven't had outfits like this. I'll describe, but let me kick this thing off. They've presented at state conferences in costume, championed the fastest growing support America, and now they're storming the national stage with a session guaranteed to wake up even the groggiest Friday morning crowd. From clever titles to courtside wisdom, they're bringing a paddle-powered conversation to to APTA's Combined Sections meeting. We've got Kristen Walls and Diane Fleming. Ladies, welcome aboard.

0:42 Thanks for having us. So let me set the stage. I've got to describe it for the podcast listeners. Both of you, well, Diane, you're wearing, it looks like a ball made of pickle is the costume. Correct. I love it. Yeah, Z-Ball made a pickle. And then, Kristen, you look like you are the official mascot for the sport of pickleball. Just a large, oversized Halloween costume with a pickle holding a paddle and the word pickleball. Pickleball club. Love the fact that... Love the fact, oh, you're the racket. That's a racket. That's your out. Okay, so you're the pickleball. Got it now. I'm a podcast host. I'm a little slow. Got it. That's a paddle.

1:23 Your costume is shaped like a paddle. Okay, so now that we got that out of the way, you guys are giving a talk. This all makes sense. You guys just didn't decide to wear the costumes. It all comes back. You guys have a session at CSM called What's the Dill? Uh-huh. With pickleball. Uh-huh. Anybody? I love puns. Where's this start? We got here. This is close to the end. Diane, where's this start? What's the deal? I think what is so great about this, Kristen and I worked side-by-side for a while in an outpatient facility. I was geriatric. Well, I still have my board-certified geriatric specialist.

2:04 She's board-certified in sports. You know, there was so much crossover between the two and with Pickleball being on the rise, it felt like the best time for a crossover. Yeah. So many, you know, it's listen, everybody loves an underdog. Everybody loves the new thing. And then the new thing becomes, oh, gosh, I don't understand the hate to Pickleball. I played it a few times. It's not my complete jam. I'm not playing it every other day, but I totally get why people are into it. It's fun if you like those sort of things and it's not a lot of equipment required for setup. I know my little town, tiny little town pivoted and threw up like four courts in what seemed like a month and a half.

2:44 This thing turned around really quick. Kristen, why pickleball and why now for physical therapists and healthcare professionals? Some of the things I said, catch the rising star, right? I mean, jump on the thing that's rising, right? Right. Right, definitely. I think we saw a gap in literature and in presentations on this. There's actually not been a presentation on this on the sports side or the geriatric side. But this year at CSM, sports will actually be doing the same topic. And so will we. And USA Pickleball is going to try to collaborate and be upon sight. So, yeah, I think now is the time.

3:25 We're seeing an increase in injuries. from these athletes. And so I think physical therapists need to be ready to treat and care for these athletes. Yeah, agreed. I've heard before. Do you need to be a volleyball player to treat volleyball players? I'm not discounting sports-specific knowledge. I'm sure there's smarter people than me. But listen, if people are going to be walking into your clinics with injuries from pickleball... And listen, it involves moving and pickles and paddles. I mean, just the head injuries alone from someone letting go one of those things...

4:06 you should at least understand the physics of the sport, how it works, what might be overused, what just, just so you, you know, almost like what to expect if you're expecting a pickleball injury to walk into your clinic. Um, so Diane, how have patients or communities responded to pickleball as part of rehab or activity promotion? That's gotta be part of your conversation. You know, I, I wish that was more of the conversation, but I feel like the, how it got more into the field was on the injury side because it got so popular so fast people who hadn't been active their whole lives are suddenly active again and uh you know some had never played sports some had been athletes growing up but having you know those ones that didn't have fundamentals were getting not just like a little sprain here and there they're getting achilles ruptures or you know tearing rotator cuffs or getting eye injuries there's a lot of concussions, like you said, you know, there's from falls there's, I think, and with it being such an inclusive sport regardless of age you know, it's very, you know, you know, young people and old people play together and, you know, at different levels, you know, depending on your rating and your score that, you know, when you get in this like competitive field that they're starting to get a little more active and they're not, some people aren't quite ready for it.

5:30 So that's, I think that's how it got a little more introduced into like the PT realm. Listen, this thing went from like funny, goofy backyard sport to ESPN holding championships on TV in like, you know, the time it took to make a ham sandwich with a little bit of a dill spear on the side. This was quick and it exploded. It's not hard to understand the rules, right? They're simple relatively, right? A couple extra rules different than tennis, but a little more access. And the funny part was people were resisting, which I thought was humorous. We're always saying, hey, do more and be active. And here was a bunch of people who were like, let's go whack this little big wiffle ball around. And people were like, oh, my God, they were up in arms.

6:11 But that's just what happens. People hate the popular thing, and they can hate the popular thing all they want. You guys are still going to do this. So you guys have... correct me if I'm wrong, you've dressed up in costume and presented before. What did that moment say about how we should teach or present in PT? I mean, obviously you're going to walk out there. We're going to get some giggles, but like coming from my world, doing something in a novel way is step one. You have to win attention before you get attention. So what does that sort of say about how we present? Do we all need to be wearing shirt and ties or should we be just up like a giant pickleball paddle more often?

6:54 You know, I think one of our big points. Yeah, I don't know. Can you hear me? You're good. One of our friends and we just really wanted to bring the fun back. So conferencing can be kind of dry and dull and boring. We wanted people to laugh doing squat tests in their chair, almost blowing their pants out. We wanted to make it fun. Not only do we make it fun for our patients, we need to make it fun for ourselves. Agreed. Listen, Kirsten just set the bar and she set it high.

7:36 If someone doesn't leave that presentation with a blowout in their pants, then I think you guys have missed the mark. So no pressure. You are setting a high bar. I do want to say thank you to one of our new sponsors, Sarah Health, remote care platform that's turning patient engagement into real clinic revenue. This is important. Sarah Health helps PT clinics streamline communication with patients without extra staff time and without an extra app. This is text message based communication. better outcomes with an average sixty five percent response rate. They're making it easy to meet RTM requirements and get reimbursed. Simple to set up, easy to integrate with your EMR and patients actually use it. Learn more at SarahHealth.io. All right. So what do you hope people will feel besides maybe a blowout in the seams of their pants during your CSM session?

8:24 What the deal? Diane, what's what do you want people to walk away with? What's the what's the exit goal? My hope is that when people hear the word geriatric, they don't think hospital, they don't think dying. They don't think their best years are past them. I want people to think like, you know, we want, we want physical, we want life across the lifespan. And that's what I'm hoping to convey with this, that, you know, that there's physical therapy is so fun on all stages and that, you know, Your soul, just because your body is eight years old, your soul never changes.

9:05 There is so much to still, gosh, the competitiveness of some of the older athletes that you see. It's very inspiring. It gives you hope. It gives you what you can really look forward to with aging. I love that. How will you know success, Kristen? What does success look like to you or feel like to you? I think to see across settings come in, not just geriatrics, but sports and neuro and students and everyone in between to come in and engage in this hot topic. I think the other fun part with this is we will actually see this probably be an Olympic sport soon.

9:51 So I think in like twenty thirty perhaps. You just can't believe it, can you, Jimmy? Yeah, it's good to be there. There's no way it's not going to be there. I mean, the Olympics are smart. The Olympics understand what game they're in. They're in the attention game as well. It didn't have to ferment. It did not have to percolate. This thing went from, is this kind of fun, to literally everybody and their mom are doing it, which is sort of something that PT wants to glom onto. Let's take a different pivot. We'll go with Diane first and then Kristen. Same question.

10:33 Let's say a physical therapist listening wants to pitch a non-traditional topic like you did at a future conference, what advice would you give them? What were the things that you maybe did right to get this goofy, silly thing, and I'm using air quotes, to maybe pass some of the people who are a little more traditional? We need, in my opinion, we need more people dressed like giant pickleballs, right? But how do we make sure that the person gatekeeping in a good way, you getting on that stage, can see what the outcome is? So what advice would you give for someone who's like, I got a crazy idea, but I don't know how to get it on stage, Diane? I think, you know, your passion for your project is important.

11:14 If you, especially if you have the idea, what was great about like having like Kristen by my side was like this sports and geriatric and all put together. So I feel like having, you know, it was not something that was just isolated to one group, but lean into it. I think if you go for, you know, what you're really aiming, like, yeah, I think if you can target your audience, know who your audience is and go for it. Yeah, that's a communications and marketing angle, but it's a PT angle as well, right? Right. I think Chris has got a little snow, so we'll stay with you, Diane. I think the paddle just hit the microphone a little too hard.

11:56 We're going to play a quick game called Pickle or Pass. Are you ready for this? All right, Pickle or Pass brought to you by our friends at Empower EMR. If your clinic is stuck in an EMR that slows you down, Empower gives you speed, clean workflows, and features PTs actually asked for. Better notes, faster documentation, and smoother operations. Wrapped up in customer support that doesn't ghost you. Find out more, kick the tires, take them for a test drive. EmpowerEMR.com. That is EmpowerEMR.com. So here's the game, Diane. It's multiple choice.

12:36 I'm going to toss you some topics. You tell me whether you're all in, pickle, or if you'll skip it, pass. We'll bring Kristen back in. Kristen, can you hear us now? Yes. All right, personal. We're playing a game called Pickle or Pass. I'm going to toss you some topics. You tell me if you're all in, pick, and just scream out, pickle, or if you skip it, pass. And then feel free to explain maybe why. Number one, hosting a seven a.m. session at CSM, pickle or pass? She's passing. She jumped out of the live stream. Passed. Yeah, seven a.m. is early. Good thing you're coming from Columbus and we're going to L.A. It's going to be later in your brain, so we're going to be okay.

13:19 Let's see. PT's treating patients on the pickleball court. Pickle or pass? Pickle. Heck yeah. Why? I mean, where else are you going to really test their skill? I mean, gosh. I had a patient shot putter, a sixty-eight-year-old shot putter for the Senior Olympics. I went and met up with her at a local high school one afternoon and we just went through together. But, I mean, why not? You're going to see the best mechanics there. I mean, if you can't set it up in your gym, yeah, go for it. Love it. Love it. Playing pickleball in running shoes. Are there special shoes for pickleball? I am not aware. So, because the court is smaller, the shoes are supposed to fight.

14:02 inversion a little bit so they're a little bit more built up but I think it's fine to wear tennis shoes pass on the special shoes save yourself I always tell people listen if you want to start a podcast wait till episode twenty before you buy anything fancy I'd say wait till you know fifty matches in pickleball before you go buy any specific pickleball clothing or shoes or you can get like a four hundred dollar racket yeah uh let we got two uh we got two more serving underhand in life pickle or pass i don't even know what that means i'm gonna say pass okay smart and what is the deal is because you have to serve a certain way and pick a ball it's not like a regular tennis thing overhand the ball has to bounce before you hit it and it has to like bounce on their side but um i mean i mean I feel like when you serve overhand, right, that's more power, that's more intentional.

14:59 Got it. All right, last question. Wearing costumes to present research, pickle or pass? Wearing costumes to present research. Dil Gherkin. Yeah, I would go all over that. There was a research competition by, I can't remember, like NIH or something like that, where they had a competition. You had to dance your research. You had to do a dance video. And I remember a physical therapist, we had her on the show, Margaret Danilovich, won a huge prize. I think it was NIH. It was something legit. And she had to dance her research. And she got real... This is years ago before we all made goofy videos every ten minutes. She put a lot of time and effort into that.

15:41 All right. Last thing we do on the show. Kristen knows this, even if she's dressed like a pickleball paddle is the parting shot. This is the parting shot. One last mic drop moment. No pressure. Just your legacy on the line. Shop brought to you by our friends at U.S. Physical Therapy, a national network of clinics focused on developing clinicians, not burning them out, leadership tracks, mentorship, career growth, and the stability to build your future in this profession. If you want a place that supports how you want to practice, that is USPH. Find them online at USPH.com. Kristen, while we got you, parting shop, what is your thing you want to leave with the audience?

16:28 I don't know if she can hear us. Diane, you're up. Parting shot. What do you got? We're going to pivot. I think what I want for people to come to this because it has a little something for everybody. It's got sports. It's got geriatrics. It's got kinematics. It's got risk factors. It's got interventions. There's everything you would want to learn about in the pickleball room. And two women dressed. And ready to play. And ready to play. Perfect. All right. We're having some audio video issues with Kristen. So we lost her right there. But listen, make sure people understand when they can visit too.

17:10 When is the session? Yeah, our session is Friday morning, eight a.m. We'll see you bright and early. Listen, if you're going to be at CSM, it's like Vegas. It's a twenty four hour clock. Diane, thanks for doing this and making it fun. You've already lowered the resistance bar for getting people the barrier to entry. You're you're you're keeping it down low. That's right. Keep it fun. Keep it fun. Keep it fun. Always less than one for Diane and Kristen. Thanks for coming out. That's it for this one, but we're just getting warmed up. Smash follow, send it to a friend, or crank up the next episode.

17:53 Want to go deeper? Hit us at pgpinecast.com. Or find us on YouTube and socials at pgpinecast. And legally, none of this was advice. It's for entertainment purposes only. Bullshit! See, Keith? We read the script. Happy now?