Pilates guide
Volleyball has few sudden injuries for a team sport, and most of them are ankles at the net, while jumper's knee, the hitting shoulder and the lower back build up over a season. About ten small Pilates studies in volleyball players have improved flexibility, trunk endurance tests and how players land, but they are small and mixed, and none counted injuries.
What Pilates can add is one-leg balance, ankle and calf strength, trunk control for landing and spiking, hip strength and shoulder-blade work for the hitting shoulder, at low load between matches. It sits beside your team warm-up, jump and strength training and, after a sprain, a brace, never in place of them.
This guide covers jumping and landing, ankles, jumper's knee, the hitting shoulder and the back, what the Pilates studies show, a 25-minute class for ankles, trunk, hips and one-leg balance with the shoulder moves to add, and the warning signs.
About ten small Pilates studies in volleyball players improved flexibility, trunk endurance tests or landing technique scores. They are small and mixed, most had a high risk of bias, and none counted injuries.
At world events, the ankle took 25.9% of injuries, most often from landing on another player's foot at the net. In Norwegian players, a sprain in the past 6 months made another about ten times as likely.
Balance-board training (in players who had sprained before), technique work for landing at the net and a brace for a year after a sprain have the evidence. Pilates one-leg balance is the same kind of work as the balance part, without the proof.
44.6% of Norwegian national-level players had jumper's knee, and more training hours and sets played raised the risk. Pilates can keep you training around it; it isn't the treatment.
Altered shoulder-blade movement, not lost inward turn, went with shoulder pain, and painless wasting at the back of the hitting shoulder is common. Train strength and control on both arms.
Plyometric training raised jump height across 14 trials; the Pilates studies are mixed on it. Arching to spike loads the back, and trunk exercises in the warm-up cut new low back pain in one small trial.
At international volleyball federation (FIVB) events from 2010 to 2014, there were 3.8 injuries causing missed play per 1,000 player match hours, twice as many in seniors as in juniors and similar in men and women. The ankle took 25.9% of injuries, the knee 15.2%, fingers and thumbs 10.7% and the lower back 8.9%.
Source 5
In Norway's top two divisions, the ankle was 54% of sudden injuries. In Dutch league players, ankle sprains were 41% of all injuries, and 75% of players who sprained had sprained before. In US college women, landing on another player and hitting the floor each caused 21% of match injuries.
At the 2001 beach world championships, sudden injuries were mostly to the knee (30%), ankle (17%) and fingers (17%), and overuse problems mostly low back pain (19%), knee (12%) and shoulder (10%). Across 5 studies of 3,698 young players, mostly girls, the ankle was hurt most, then the wrist, hand and fingers, then the knee.
In 75 elite men followed weekly, on average 31% had a knee problem, 21% a low back problem and 19% a shoulder problem in any week, and 93% had at least one problem in a season. In 123 Japanese elite high school players, 48.0% had low back pain in the past year.
Reviews agree that the ankle, knee and shoulder lead, and a 2026 review of 131 studies found that only 7.6% tested an injury prevention programme.
Pilates trains one-leg balance, ankle and calf strength, trunk control for landing and the arched spike, hip strength, shoulder-blade and outward-turning endurance and upper-back rotation, at low load (our reading). It doesn't prevent sprains on its own, treat jumper's knee, raise jump height or replace the team warm-up: across 11 trials, Pilates built strength no better or worse than other exercise, at very low to low certainty.
The Pilates studies in volleyball players are small and mixed, and none counted injuries. Balance training, warm-ups, braces after a sprain and jump training carry the evidence for what players most want.
Our PubMed searches found two Pilates studies in volleyball players, and Crossref, university repositories and trial registries added the rest (1 November 2026). Every result is a fitness test, a screening score or a landing technique score; none counted injuries.
Source 1
In 30 girls aged about 16, paired and then randomised, reformer and Cadillac Pilates 3 times a week for 8 weeks cut landing errors on a jump-landing test (from 9.13 to 7.93, against 8.66 to 8.26 with usual training), and tuck-jump and trunk errors too, scored from video by an assessor who didn't know the groups. It was small, some numbers in its tables are odd, and it counted no injuries.
Source 2
In 20 girls aged 14 to 16, randomised, about 30 minutes of mat Pilates twice a week in season improved sit and reach by 3.8 cm more than team training alone, with no change in squat or countermovement jump height or power. In 56 girls aged 13 to 18, those who had done mat Pilates with the team physiotherapist for 2 years or more were no more flexible and jumped no higher than those who hadn't. In 40 girls aged 12 to 16, 32 weeks of mat Pilates brought gains in flexibility and sit-ups within the Pilates group, but the groups weren't compared with each other.
In 30 university men in India, randomised, 6 weeks of mat Pilates went with better curl-ups, leg lowering, vertical jump, agility, a volleying test and balance, but the Pilates group already jumped about 9 cm higher at the start and the analysis didn't allow for it. In 16 Brazilian players with no comparison group, a plank test improved. A Chinese trial had garbled units, an Italian trial in boys aged 12 to 14 had inconsistent group sizes and implausibly large effects, and a Pakistani trial registered after it ended has no results.
In small trials, core training improved trunk stability and some block-jump measures, balance and drop jumps, screening scores and serve skill, and faster jump serves. Across 7 trials, neuromuscular training improved stability in volleyball players, and across team sports, core training improved balance moderately and jump height a little, at low to very low certainty.
In 152 adolescent team-sport players followed for 20 months, better back endurance and balance went with fewer ankle sprains. That's a risk factor, not proof that training them prevents sprains.
Source 40
In 116 Dutch teams, a balance-board programme cut ankle sprains, but only in players who had sprained before, and overuse knee injuries rose in players with an earlier knee injury. In Norway, a programme of awareness, technique training for take-off and landing at the net, and balance boards went with ankle injuries falling from 0.9 to 0.5 per 1,000 hours, with no comparison group. After a sprain, a brace for 12 months cut repeat sprains more than 8 weeks of home exercises (15% against 27%).
In 672 recreational adults, the VolleyVeilig warm-up went with fewer sudden injuries (8.9 against 11.3 per 1,000 hours), though not significantly once other factors were allowed for. In 518 youth players, it cut sudden injuries and arm injuries but not injuries overall, and only 44% of teams did it fully. A school neuromuscular programme for girls halved injuries in the volleyball players.
Across 25 trials, strength training cut sports injuries to about a third and balance training to about half, while stretching made no difference. Firm evidence that a weak core causes injuries is lacking.
In 26 players, yoga twice a week improved flexibility, balance and serve accuracy more than strength exercises; no injuries were counted. Our yoga for volleyball players guide has more.
Source 46
In 24 filmed ankle injuries at world events, most came from blockers landing on an opponent's or a teammate's foot, and from back-row attackers landing on a front-row teammate, with the ankle rolling fast. 79% of Norwegian ankle injuries were repeats.
One-leg balance, calf raises and outer-ankle work are the same kind of training as the balance part of the prevention programmes, on a floor rather than a board (our reading). They don't replace a brace after a sprain, technique work at the net or the team warm-up. With an earlier knee injury, build balance work up slowly, because balance-board training raised overuse knee injuries in that group (our suggestion).
44.6% of Norwegian national-level male players had symptoms, the highest of 9 sports, and 14.4% of Dutch non-elite players. In 141 elite Norwegian youth players followed for 4 years, each extra weekly training hour and each extra set played a week raised the odds, and better jumpers were more likely to get it. Boys jumped far more often in training than girls (35.7 against 13.7 jumps an hour), and in Dutch players being male doubled the odds.
Jumper's knee needs load management and a tendon-loading programme, ideally with a physiotherapist. In-season decline squats did nothing for elite players who already had it, and a tailored programme halved new cases in Brazilian youth athletes in a study that wasn't randomised. Our jumper's knee guide has the stages.
Bridges, side kicks and upper-body and trunk work can keep you training while the tendon settles; keep knee bending shallow and follow the pain rule in the warning signs (our suggestion). Our Pilates for patellar tendinopathy guide has the moves to change and a class with the loading plan's first stage built in.
About 60% of 422 US college club players had had shoulder problems, more in attackers and jump servers, and the hitting shoulder's loss of inward turn wasn't linked with them, while altered shoulder-blade movement was. In 95 Brazilian players followed for 8 months, 52.6% had shoulder pain; altered shoulder-blade movement went with pain (about 4 times the odds) and injury, while lost inward rotation and training overload didn't.
Wasting of the infraspinatus, a rotator cuff muscle at the back of the shoulder, was found in 12 of 96 top players in 1985, 30% of professional beach players' hitting shoulders and 9% to 12% of Italian professionals in 2021, all painless. New wasting or weakness still needs checking (the warning signs below).
Across three studies in handball and volleyball, shoulder exercise programmes cut shoulder injuries by about half, at very low certainty; no volleyball-only shoulder trial has counted injuries. The Y-T-W raises, band turn-outs and scapular push-ups below train the back of the shoulder and the shoulder blade on both arms. Athletes with very flexible joints had about three times the odds of a shoulder injury, so aim for control, not more stretch.
Plyometric training raised vertical jump in volleyball players across 14 trials, and 2 sessions a week with fewer than 2,000 jumps in total worked as well as more. The Pilates studies are small and mixed on jump height: it didn't change in the Italian girls, and in the Indian men, where it rose, the Pilates group already jumped higher at the start.
In a trial in 70 high school players, arching the lower back caused nearly 70% of new low back pain, and with 1 or 2 warm-up exercises of their choice (upper-back mobility, trunk stability or stretching) for 4 weeks, 8.8% got new low back pain against 33.3% without them. It was small and short, and it wasn't Pilates, but it's the one trial of trunk-type exercise with a pain result in volleyball. Keep Pilates back bends small.
Source 17
In a small online survey of 74 players, 35% reported a concussion at some point, and few sought medical help. Volleyball England's guidelines say if in doubt, sit them out, with no return to play before 21 days unless the enhanced care pathway's criteria are met; the FIVB's medical regulations contain no concussion protocol.
Knee-to-wall ankle rock, 10 slow rocks per side, daily (the move page's dose); ankle CARs, 5 slow circles each way with each ankle, morning and evening (the move page's dose); single-leg calf raise from a step, 2 sets of 12 each leg, rising over the big toe and lowering for 3 seconds, and band ankle eversion, 8 each side, about 3 seconds out and 3 back (our Pilates for basketball players class).
Single-leg stand, 2 sets of 30 seconds each leg, knee soft and not caving in, eyes closed or on a cushion once it's easy (our Pilates for basketball players class); single-leg reach matrix, 3 rounds of 5 reaches in each direction, each leg (the move page's dose), easing off the deep reaches in the first weeks after a sprain, as its page says; hip airplane, 2 sets of 5 slow turns each leg (the move page's dose), holding a counter.
Hundred, 50 beats to start, building to 100 (the move page's dose); dead bug, 2 sets of 8 each side, forearm plank, 2 holds of 20 to 30 seconds, and side plank, 2 sets of 15 to 30 seconds each side with your knees down to start (our Pilates for basketball players class); bird dog, 2 sets of 6 each side with 5-second holds (our volleyball injury prevention workout); swimming, 2 sets of 20 seconds of small, brisk flutters, kept small if arching hurts (our Pilates for basketball players class).
Side kick, 8 to 10 each side (the move page's dose); clamshell, 10 each side (our Pilates for basketball players class); shoulder bridge, 3 to 5 kicks each leg (the move page's dose).
Thoracic rotation, 6 rotations per side (the move page's dose); Y-T-W raises, 5 of each shape with your forehead on a folded towel, band turn-outs, 10 each arm with a light band and your elbow by your side, and scapular push-ups, 2 sets of 10, on a wall if your shoulder, a finger or your wrist is sore (our Pilates for tennis players class); wall angel, 8 slow slides, a small range is fine (our Pilates for swimmers class).
Kick through a smaller range in the single-leg kick, as its page says, keep knee bending shallow, and follow the pain rule in the warning signs and our jumper's knee guide. A tendon-loading programme is treatment, not Pilates, and belongs with a physiotherapist.
Do the one-leg work next to a wall, follow our ankle sprain guide's stages, and ease off the deep reaches in the reach matrix in the first weeks, as its page says. A brace for a year after a sprain cut repeat sprains more than home exercises in a trial.
Source 10
Balance-board training raised overuse knee injuries in players with an earlier knee injury in the Dutch trial. One-leg balance on the floor is gentler, but build it up slowly (our suggestion).
Source 8
Get new weakness or wasting checked, do the scapular push-ups on a wall, and keep the Y-T-W raises small.
If you're hypermobile, don't use mobility work to push further: the NHS says "do not overextend your joints just because you can". See a GP if you think you have joint hypermobility syndrome: for example, your joints keep dislocating, or you keep getting sprains, strains, pain or stiffness.
Keep the swimming and swan small or leave them out, and get it checked.
Back pain that is worse arching back and has lasted more than a couple of weeks can be a stress fracture of the spine (spondylolysis): get it checked.
Source 17
Do the planks on your forearms, and the cat-cow on your fists or forearms, as our basketball players class suggests for a sore finger or wrist.
Our basketball players' Pilates class is the one to follow: 25 minutes of ankles, calves, trunk, hips and one-leg balance on both legs. It has no shoulder block, so add the Y-T-W raises, band turn-outs and scapular push-ups from our tennis players' class (the hitting shoulder moves above). The volleyball warm-up and injury prevention workout carry the balance, shoulder and landing work, and jump training is what raises jump height.
A 25-minute Pilates class for basketball players: planks and side planks, trunk control, hip strength, calf and ankle work and one-leg balance, for lighter days.
25 minBeginner15 movesStep, wallA 25-minute Pilates class for tennis and padel players: trunk endurance, rotation both ways, shoulder blades, hips and single-leg balance, on a mat.
25 minBeginner19 movesBand, anchor pointA 15-minute volleyball warm-up: skips, shuffles and zig-zag runs, planks, one-leg balance, landings, Nordics and lunges, band shoulder work and block jumps.
15 minBeginner13 movesWall, dumbbellA 30-minute volleyball routine: balance board work for ankles, the five-part Shoulder Control programme, Nordics, lunges and calf raises, and trunk work.
30 minBeginner13 movesWall, other / check instructionsA 25-minute off-court yoga class for volleyball players: ankle bend, one-leg balance, landing shapes, the hitting shoulder and the upper back, then rest.
25 minBeginner16 movesWallA 25-minute Pilates class for sore knees and knee arthritis: lying and side-lying leg work, shallow squats and balance, with no kneeling at all.
25 minBeginner15 movesBench or box, something with weightA staged jump session for 8 weeks: landings and small jumps, then box and broad jumps, then depth jumps, each followed by squats, hinges and calf work.
40 minIntermediate16 movesStep, bench or boxA 15-minute head-up Pilates class for the early stages after a concussion: a symptom check, seated breathing and mobility, and light bodyweight work at a counter.
15 minBeginner12 movesBench or box, wallThe beginner Pilates plan builds the basics over 4 weeks, 3 days a week; fit it around your training and matches, and do its planks on your forearms if a finger or wrist is sore.
This is general information, not a diagnosis. A&E means accident and emergency; in the US, call 911 for 999, and use your doctor's urgent line or urgent care for NHS 111.
Call 999 if:
Call 999 or go to A&E: after an injury, you heard a crack, the foot or ankle has changed shape or points at an odd angle, a bone is sticking out, there is a bad cut over it, you're in severe pain, or the toes look blue or white, feel numb or are cold to touch. These can mean a broken bone. Don't drive yourself.
Same day (NHS 111 or an urgent treatment centre): after an injury, you can't put weight on it or walk more than a few steps, the pain is very bad or getting worse, there is a lot of swelling or bruising or it is getting worse, it feels very stiff, or it's not feeling any better after treating it yourself. Get the same help if you also have a very high temperature, or feel hot, cold or shivery: this could be an infection. If you think it's broken, don't treat it yourself.
See a doctor or physiotherapist if:
Go to A&E (accident and emergency) if you've injured your knee and it has changed shape, it becomes very swollen very quickly, you felt a pop or snap, you can see bone sticking out, or it's bleeding heavily. Don't drive yourself: ask someone to take you, or call 999 if the pain means you can't move your leg to get there.
Get advice from NHS 111 now: you cannot move the knee or put any weight on it, or it is very painful, badly swollen or has changed shape, or it locks, gives way or clicks painfully. A pop, quick swelling and a knee that gives way point to an ACL injury: our ACL injury guide says what to do.
Same day: a sudden snap or pop at the back of the heel or calf, or a feeling of being kicked there, then walking flat-footed and being unable to push off, stand on tiptoe or climb stairs. It could be an Achilles tendon rupture or a broken heel bone. Go to A&E or a minor injuries unit, or contact NHS 111.
Source 68
Call 999 or go to A&E: after a fall or injury, your shoulder looks out of place or has changed shape, you cannot move your arm, or your shoulder is painful, bruised or swollen. Do not drive yourself, and do not try to put it back in yourself.
Same day (GP or NHS 111): sudden weakness lifting the arm after an injury or fall. A rotator cuff tear caused by an injury needs urgent referral to a shoulder specialist. After a dislocation in anyone over 40, the rotator cuff should be checked: about 40% have a tear.
Your shoulder has partly or fully come out of joint, or you worry it might.
It is common in overhead athletes and often painless, but new wasting or weakness should be checked by a clinician.
Call 999 if someone has hit their head and has been knocked out and hasn't woken up, can't stay awake or keep their eyes open, has a fit, has fallen from a height of more than 1 metre or 5 stairs, has problems with their vision or hearing, has clear fluid coming from their ears or nose, has new numbness or weakness, has problems with walking, balance, understanding, speaking or writing, hit their head at high speed, or their behaviour has changed. Get help from NHS 111 if they're being sick, feel dizzy or take medicine that thins the blood. If you're told to go to A&E (accident and emergency), don't drive yourself there if you have hit your head.
With a suspected concussion, if in doubt, sit them out. The UK's grassroots guidelines say no sport for at least 24 hours, get checked by a healthcare professional or NHS 111 within 24 hours, follow a staged return, and no competition before day 21; if symptoms last beyond 28 days, stay out of sport and see a doctor. Pilates waits too: gentle breathing and mobility fit the early, light-activity stages; bodyweight strength work can start in the light aerobic exercise stage, which allows "low intensity, body weight resistance training"; and springs, weights and harder trunk work come later (our reading). Our concussion guide has the stages.
Volleyball England's own guidelines follow the same principles; our volleyball guide sets them out.
Go to A&E if a finger points at an odd angle, looks blue or feels numb, or is cut with bone showing. Get help from NHS 111 if it's painful, swollen and bruised, or stiff and difficult to move. A fingertip that won't straighten needs same-day advice, as our mallet finger guide explains.
Source 73
The largest patellar tendon trial kept exercise pain at 3 out of 10 or less, a lower ceiling than for joint pain. Keep the rest of your activity within the same limit, and expect the tendon to settle back to its usual level by the next morning.
Our Pilates for patellar tendinopathy guide builds the first stage of the loading plan into a 25-minute class.
Source 78
A teenager in a sport that arches or twists the back, such as gymnastics, dance, diving, volleyball, tennis, cricket fast bowling, baseball pitching, weightlifting, football or rugby, with back pain that lasts more than a couple of weeks, is worse arching back or stops them training: get it checked by a GP or sports physiotherapist. It can be a stress fracture in the spine.
Source 74
Call 999 or go to A&E (accident and emergency) straight away for severe difficulty breathing (gasping, choking or not able to get words out), a chest that feels tight or heavy, pain that spreads to your arms, back, neck and jaw, lips or skin turning very pale, blue or grey, or sudden confusion. If you're more short of breath than usual, or your heart is racing, fluttering or skipping beats, contact NHS 111.
Source 75
You feel any pain or become unwell, as the NHS advises for its Pilates videos, and especially for chest pain or pressure, unusual breathlessness, dizziness or fainting. If you have a health problem, an injury or any symptoms, get advice from a healthcare professional, such as a GP, before you start.
Source 76
The NHS advises getting advice from a healthcare professional first if you have a health problem, an injury or symptoms, or have recently had a heart attack or an operation.
Source 76
The Pilates studies in volleyball players are small and mixed on jump height, and the one gain came in a group that already jumped higher at the start. Plyometric training is what raised it, across 14 trials.
The sprain evidence is for balance-board training in players who had sprained before, technique work at the net and braces. Trunk endurance went with fewer sprains in one group of players, an association only.
No study has counted injuries after Pilates in volleyball players.
Source 1
The hitting shoulder's loss of inward turn wasn't linked with shoulder problems in two groups of players, while altered shoulder-blade movement was.
No study in volleyball players has measured it.
Source 1
Firm evidence that a weak core causes injuries is lacking; the programmes that cut injuries trained strength and balance, and stretching didn't help.
In footballers, both mat and reformer Pilates improved tests, and most of the volleyball studies used mat work. Use what you can get to.
It can add one-leg balance, ankle and calf strength, trunk control for landing and spiking, hip strength and shoulder-blade work for the hitting shoulder, at low load between matches. About ten small Pilates studies in volleyball players improved fitness tests, flexibility or landing technique, but they are small and mixed, and none counted injuries.
Not on its own, as far as the studies show. The Pilates studies in volleyball players are small and mixed: jump height didn't change in Italian girls, and in Indian men, where it rose, the Pilates group already jumped higher at the start. Plyometric training raised vertical jump in volleyball players across 14 trials, and our how to jump higher guide covers it.
It hasn't been tested. What has evidence is balance-board training in players who had sprained before, technique work at the net and a brace for a year after a sprain. Pilates one-leg balance is the same kind of work as the balance part, without the proof.
Pilates can keep you training around a sore tendon (bridges, side kicks, upper-body and trunk work), but it isn't the treatment: jumper's knee needs load management and a tendon-loading programme. In-season decline squats did nothing for elite players who already had it, and our jumper's knee guide and the pain rule on this page come first.
It can train shoulder-blade control and outward-turning endurance on both arms; altered shoulder-blade movement went with shoulder pain in volleyball players, while the loss of inward turn didn't. New wasting or weakness at the back of the shoulder needs checking.
It can be: in the one reformer study, 30 young female players made fewer landing errors after 8 weeks of reformer and Cadillac Pilates. Mat work does most of the same jobs, so use what you can get to.
The hundred, dead bug, side plank and bird dog for the trunk, the side kick, clamshell and shoulder bridge for the hips, and one-leg balance with the hip airplane. Core training improves balance and landing control more reliably than jump height.
Once or twice a week on a lighter day (our suggestion). Before play, use the team warm-up, not a Pilates class.
Trunk exercises in the warm-up cut new low back pain in one small trial in high school players (8.8% against 33.3%); Pilates trunk work is similar but untested. Keep back bends small, and get back pain that's worse arching and lasts more than a couple of weeks checked for a stress fracture.
The same ideas apply. Beach players' overuse problems were mostly in the low back, knee and shoulder, and sand landings are softer, but the shoulder and back still work hard.
Neither has been shown to prevent volleyball injuries. The one yoga trial improved flexibility, balance and serve accuracy, and the Pilates studies mostly flexibility and trunk tests; our yoga for volleyball players guide covers yoga.
An ankle you can't stand on, a pop in the knee with fast swelling or a knee that gives way, a snap at the back of the heel, a shoulder that comes out, a blow to the head and a finger at an odd angle all need help. The warning signs on this page say how fast.
Exercise education, not a personal prescription, and clinical review of these guides is pending. If you are pregnant, have a health condition or have had recent surgery, check with a doctor, midwife or physiotherapist before starting, and stop for sharp or increasing pain. Health disclaimer.
