With 37 years of experience in physical therapy, Dawn Petit, PTA is no stranger to helping her clients recover from injuries —but recently, she’s been focusing on helping prevent those injuries in the first place.
Dawn has been with Southwestern Vermont Medical Center (SVMC) Rehabilitation Services for five years. In 2025, she developed the Pickleball Dynamic Warmup program at SVMC, focused on integrating dynamic movements into the routine of avid pickleball players.
Pickleball injury rates have risen significantly with the popularity of the sport. Emergency visits for pickleball injuries have gone up by 91%, with majority of those patients being over 50 years old.
Dawn is no stranger to allure of a great game of pickleball.
“I regularly travel up to an hour in any direction to find competitive games and connect with friends on the court,” Dawn said. “When I arrive at the court I almost never see anyone warming up prior to playing. I believe this lack of preparation is one of the root causes in this uptick of injured players. I made it my personal goal to design and share this valuable information for injury prevention in our local community.”
Check out Dawn’s routine here
The warm-up routine is designed to prepare the body for those movements through active stretching and mobility exercises that improve flexibility, balance, and muscle activation before play begins. She also advises players against running backwards, as it significantly increases the risk of injury. Dawn’s warm-ups have been shared throughout the communities that SVMC serves in southern Vermont, eastern New York and Northern Berkshire Massachusetts.
“As pickleball continues to grow, so does the need for injury prevention education,” Dawn said.
Learn more about SVMC Rehabilitation Services.