Are all the injuries just a fluke?

I don't think its the NBA itself, but rather what the players endure before they get to the league. I look at Jabri Parker who came into the league, played a few games then his ACL went out. Blake Griffin is another example, came into the league, then fractured his knee cap.

I just think players need to listen to their bodies more and take better care of themselves. Also, they need to take regular fitness seriously and try to stay in shape as best as possible. Like the OP stated, athleticism only takes you so far, you have to develop a strong fundamental game if you want to last.

 

Kinda feels this way in the nfl too. At least for the last season or two

 

maybe they do not fokus on prevention as much as they should. they give their best to join the nba and do everything they can to improve basketball wise and get draftet. so theres no time for functional body training. but i dont know a lot about these things. just a guess

 

Nope. 82 games with the awful scheduling the NBA makes (back to backs, 4 games in 5 nights, etc.) + playoff games every other night take a toll, and the stars are the one's who are always at greater risk because they're the one's carrying the load.

 

Playing Harder earlier?
Is The Competition in AAU and HIGH SCHOOL and COLLEGE is more intense than previous years/decades?



Rocket River

 

It is a possibility that all the competition players endure these days before getting to the NBA is a factor. But then again, who really knows. I would think with all the medical advancements and technology that the sports world has now, things would be different. Maybe its all the flopping......

 

I doubt that it is a fluke. There is something bigger here, like a halibut.

 

I think you have increased athleticism which puts more pressure on joints not designed for that. We didn't evolve to play these crazy sports especially for 82 times a year not including practices and other leagues.

The shock has to have an affect at the level they are at.

 

Can't just group them all and come up with an answer. Injuries either happen because of a freak incident or because the body was in bad shape to perform beforehand. You'd need to know how many are the latter to find out if they're preventable and not just flukes.

The thing about basketball is, it can be a very unilateral sport. Players shoot from one side only and some are very dependent on going left or right. The body's tissue adjust to the overuse of that one side, and if not corrected, now you have imbalanced movement. Then, one night in December, a player makes a strong move to the other side and can't control it well enough. Maybe that leads to an immediate injury or just a strain..maybe he compensates well enough to avoid any issue that night, but not 3 days later. It just depends.

Another issue is players simply playing before they're ready. GS benefited from their blowouts and record...they never really felt pressured to play guys through injuries until probably late in the playoffs, but that's much better than doing it for a whole season and then entering the playoffs banged up.

Parsons is likely an example of having imbalanced movement that lead to injury (back spasms, knee) and then also playing before they're ready (playoffs vs houston).

 

There can be a problem with training before they enter the league. Teenagers are eager to make it to the league, so they start training earlier, but have to settle for lower level trainers, who don't/can't spot their weak points and just tack on training over that. You end up building a house on a shaky foundation and then these guys enter the league with underlying issues that just can't be fixed overnight. So now they have to try to play 82 games a year like that until they go through enough off seasons to correct everything.

 

Injuries are asynchronous events. They cannot be planned for and they cannot be foreseen. Why did Jones get nerve damage in his leg and then go down with a collapsed lung? No one knows. Why did D-Mo get two herniated disks in his back after averaging just 28.7 minutes per game? Neither one displayed any injury problems prior to this season. They both have been pros for three years, so are training according to NBA standards. But just "poof" they are gone from the line up. There is absolutely no rhyme or reason to it. It I guess is just "bad luck".

 

I didn't say it was the main reason. It just contributes to it, along with what I wrote in my first post.

The difference is, in the past there wasn't such a big fitness craze. Now, there's so many gyms and so much access to information, that everyone wants to do it. Fitness has become more complicated because of an increase in options, but not all options are good/correct. Teens and inexperienced/bad trainers can't tell what's good and what's bad. I've seen it first hand locally, with trainers starting their business right out of college. They recruit high school athletes and just push the hell out of them without any regard for identifying and correcting weaknesses first. I cringe watching some of their IG/FB posts.

I also wouldn't say they are as eager as before. Pro sports are more popular now, have larger salaries, and there are more programs in place, like AAU, to help you get there.

And the problem isn't the number of games itself, but that they players are having issues AND still trying to play the 82 games. Even playing 60 games isn't good, when you're not physically healthy, but the more games you play, the more risk increases.

 

There's been a lot of talk about this in baseball, especially with pitchers. They are specializing earlier, pitching more at a younger age, and not playing as many different sports (which normally helps developing all their different muscles and motions). Not sure if the same would apply to basketball players, but it's certainly possible.

 

Some accidents are are unfortunate (i.e. Bosh), but others are due to poor body mechanics or just not being able to sustain high levels of NBA play from how the season is scheduled.

 

You can probably blame poorly conceived/executed strength and conditioning programs for a lot of the injuries.

 

Also, sitting contributes to a lot of physical issues, as i'm sure many have already heard. People, not just athletes, probably sit more now than ever. Forward-head posture galore (See Dwight). It's hard to undo the effects of it, even if you treat players at practice, because then they'll just sit down for a lot of hours after/before.

I would say yes.

I was listening to a podcast, I think with Kelley Starrett (PT in Cali), and he's worked with different basketball players. He said he's noticed that they tend to have have fallen arches.

I know there's this belief that you're either born with fallen arches or not, but it's certainly not always the case. What tends to happen is that the knees cave in during movement because of bad hip control and as a result, so does the foot. So, that goes back to not developing a wide range of motions at a younger age.

Some basketball shoes also don't help. Too restrictive, screws with natural walking motion and ankle flexibility.

 

i wonder if strength training and building muscle is what's making players more susceptible to injury with all the added weight. i don't remember so many injuries during the 80's and 90's when guys played just as many games but were noticeably lighter.