Lauxtermann Lena, Stubbs Brendon
Department of Sport and Exercise Physiology, Centre for Sport Science and University Sports, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neuroscience (IoPPN), King's College London, London, United Kingdom.
Front Psychol. 2025 Jul 29;16:1614448. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1614448. eCollection 2025.
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.
体育活动有益于心理健康，然而像壁球和匹克球这类新兴运动的影响尽管易于参与且参与者数量不断增加（全球有30万业余壁球运动员，美国匹克球运动员数量在2020年至2023年期间增长了223.5%），却仍未得到充分研究。本系统评价考察了它们与心理健康、幸福感和精神疲劳之间的关联。
对Medline、PsycINFO和Embase进行电子检索（从创刊至2024年10月8日；PROSPERO注册号CRD42024594743），以确定关于参与壁球或匹克球与心理健康或幸福感结果的定量和观察性研究。
纳入了71项研究（共1403名参与者）中的14项。匹克球能提升幸福感、生活满意度（P<0.05）、快乐感（r = 0.263，P<0.001），减轻抑郁（r = -0.23，P<0.01），并促进社会融合，尤其在老年人中。在壁球运动中，高水平和赢得比赛的运动员表现出更强的自信心和更低的躯体焦虑；赛前焦虑会增加，因性别和比分而异，且低于网球运动中的赛前焦虑。连续进行壁球比赛会导致精神疲劳增加，影响准确性（P = 0.05），并与动机增强有关。
关于壁球和匹克球的心理健康研究有所扩展，揭示了不同的关注领域。壁球研究主要关注自信心、焦虑和精神疲劳等表现方面，而匹克球研究则突出了在生活满意度、快乐感和社会融合方面幸福感的提升。然而，仍存在差距，特别是在壁球运动中对幸福感的探索以及匹克球运动中与表现相关的心理健康（如焦虑、疲劳）在不同年龄组中的研究方面。为填补这些差距，未来的研究应针对这些差距并考虑不同年龄组，以提供更全面的理解。
PROSPERO：唯一标识符为CRD42024594743，可公开访问的网址为https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?ID=CRD42024594743 。
