How to Use CBD for Pickleball and Other Racquet Sports

Who plays pickleball these days? Pretty much everyone—including top athletes like NBA and NFL stars LeBron James, Tom Brady, and Kevin Durant—and it’s happening everywhere, far beyond pickleball’s roots in the Pacific Northwest.

While there’s a lot of appeal to this low-impact volley of whiffleball spins, returns, game strategy and socializing, pickleball also offers a surprisingly physical workout. And every serious workout opens the door for overdoing it. That’s where CBD salves and other CBD topicals come in, with relief for sore muscles and joints.

Coping With Common Pickleball Injuries

Pickleball may not be as strenuous as other racquet-swinging sports like tennis, badminton, squash and racquetball, but it does encourage players to hustle. And like any sport, soft tissues can get tweaked, repetitive motions can stress ligaments and joints, and accidents happen. Common pickleball injuries include:

• Sprained ankles

• ACL damage

• Aggravated arthritis

• Elbow ligament strains and other lower-arm overuse injuries

• Rotator cuff stress

• Achilles tendonitis

• Broken bones

While research into cannabidiol (CBD) is ongoing, researchers have found CBD to provide various therapeutic properties, with early lab studies on cells and animal models demonstrating anti-inflammatory properties as well as the potential to support bone fracture healing in mice. However, there remains a need to continue further research on humans to understand the full scope of potential benefits for humans.

Pickleball and CBD: A Perfect Match

There’s significant overlap between people who use CBD topicals, and the demographics that are currently trying pickleball. A 2023 Forbes Health survey found that CBD use rises steadily with age: fewer than a third of respondents ages 18 to 25 use CBD, compared with almost 90% of respondents 77 and older.

That’s good news for people who fall in the middle of that Venn diagram. Pickleball and CBD are both relative newcomers in the worlds of sport and wellness, and the two have grown up alongside each other—CBD brands now sponsor professional players, and topicals have become a familiar sight in pro shops next to the paddles and grip tape.

Benefits of CBD Topicals for Pickleball Players

CBD salves can be used before, during and after pickleball games, as well as other workouts. Not only do full-spectrum CBD topicals allow for targeted application of CBD and other powerful plant botanicals to the areas that need it most, but some people also like the peace of mind that comes from using a cannabis plant product externally rather than internally. CBD salves are one way to sidestep concerns about the potential interaction of ingested CBD with other medications or supplements.

How to Use CBD Topicals for Pickleball

If you’re wondering what to look for in a CBD topical, pick a bioavailable formula with full-spectrum CBD; this means it will have the widest range of plant compounds and be absorbed through the skin the best. What sets full-spectrum CBD apart from broad-spectrum CBD or Isolate (CBD only products) is that these products do contain trace amounts of THC and other cannabinoids—albeit at sub-perceptual, legal levels. This allows for the potential of anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects without a worry of getting high. When absorbed into the skin and interacting with the endocannabinoid system, there is just enough of these additional ingredients to enhance the effects of CBD and terpenes.

Choosing a CBD salve that will absorb into the skin without leaving a greasy residue on your pickleball racquet or whiffle ball is also incredibly important. The quick-to-absorb natural oils and fats in Entourus CBD salves help carry cannabinoids and terpenes like humulene and limonene to cannabinoid receptors where you apply them. We meticulously crafted our CBD salves to promote nourishing hydration, and deep absorption of our powerful plant botanicals in the epidermis and dermis of the skin where it counts, rather than linger on the surface like some other products on the market.

Whether you choose Entourus essential oil topicals or terpene topicals, these CBD salves are typically reapplied every four to six hours. That’s a lot of pickleball.

The Future of Cannabis Sports Medicine

How to use CBD muscle cream depends in part on your goals. Some people choose to spread a CBD salve on areas that tend to get sore during play—like elbows or knees—ahead of getting on the court, so the CBD has time to absorb and activate during warm-up. Others prefer to apply or reapply after playing to avoid feeling muscle strain or joint discomfort later in the day. After a hard session, Synergy Salve + is the 2000 MG strength, and the one most players reach for.

Apply a generous layer of CBD salve before your first serve. And if you sense the effects starting to wear off after a few games, rub a little more on before you pack up and leave the court. Massaging in the salve will apply heat and pressure which can also help with absorbing the active ingredients in the skin. Follow up with best practices for cool-down and recovery like hydration, stretching and applying ice.

See for yourself why more and more pickleball players—and other sports enthusiasts—view CBD as the future of hemp wellness; and remember not all CBD is created equal!

Every Entourus salve uses full-spectrum CBD from non-GMO hemp grown in Central Oregon. Our CBD + Terpenes line adds a proprietary blend of more than fifty botanically derived terpenes, including limonene and humulene. Both lines come in 1000, 1500 and 2000 MG per 50 ML jar.

Learn more about cannabis topicals on our FAQ.