The Role of Padel in Improving Physical Fitness and Health Promotion: Progress, Limitations, and Future Perspectives-A Narrative Review

Abstract

Benefits of regular exercise for health are beyond any doubt. However, adherence to regular physical activity is an ongoing challenge. Among the options for exercise engagement, racket sports, and particularly padel, stand as emerging practices for children and adults to have fun, improve physical fitness, and potentially develop motor and cognitive skills. In the last decade, the literature on padel is increasing exponentially. However, there is a need for further experimental research. To design safe and effective sport-base physical activity promotion interventions, it is essential to have a deep understanding of the physical requirements, technical complexity, injury risks, and strength and conditioning programs. To assist researchers to conduct effective padel-based interventions for health, this review summarizes the state-of-the-art evidence about padel, identifies key topics to be addressed in the future, and discusses the potential role of padel as a physical fitness and health promotion strategy. A narrative review is presented, summarizing the results of padel articles from three different databases: Web of Science, Scopus, and Google Scholar. Studies written in Spanish and English were the inclusion criteria. The studies had to be published from 2000 onwards and be original, as well as peer-reviewed.

Keywords: health promotion; physical activity; racket sports; sedentary behaviour.