ArticleThe Journal of arthroplasty2025
Can I Pickle Doc? Return to Pickleball and Other Racket Sports After Total Joint Arthroplasty.
Article in The Journal of arthroplasty, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- High rate of return to low-impact physical activity or sports after total and unicompartmental knee arthroplasty: A systematic review with meta-analysis.Knee surgery, sports traumatology, arthroscopy : official journal of the ESSKA · 2026Pooled it
- Emerging sports as public health infrastructure: policy transfer lessons from US pickleball to China.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundParticipation in pickleball and other racket sports is growing, particularly among older adults who may also be candidates for joint arthroplasty (JA). Currently, there are limited data on performance, safety, and return to racket sports after JA.
methodsAn online survey was sent to 7,200 patients who had undergone at least one primary JA at a single academic center over the past 10 years (five surgeons). The survey asked patients about their prior and current racket sports participation, including ability level, expectations, limitations, and reoperations. Demographics, patient-reported outcomes, and reoperations were also captured through chart review. Chi-square, analysis of variance, and t-tests were used to compare demographics and outcomes. Of the 1,284 respondents, the average follow-up was 3.6 years (range, 0.5 to 10).
resultsIn total, 61.7% had never played a racket sport, 25.3% had not played a racket sport in the two years before surgery (remote), and 13.0% had played a racket sport in the two years before surgery (recent). Of the recent players, 71.9% returned to play after surgery, compared to 30.2% of remote players. The majority of players returned to play at a similar skill level, duration, and frequency, with the majority returning to play by six months postoperatively. Higher physical function outcomes were reported by recent players who returned to play after JA. Rates of reoperation were not significantly different between patients who did and did not return to play.
conclusionsThe majority of recent racket sports players were able to return to play after JA at their same skill level by six months postoperatively with higher physical function outcome scores and without an increase in reoperation rate. Future studies are needed to determine the long-term consequences of racket sports participation after JA.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.