Are Some Athletes Just More Injury-Prone?

So the news broke yesterday that Greg Oden, the heralded former No. 1 draft pick of the Portland Trailblazers, will miss yet another season. Three years, three major surgeries. First, it was a cartilage injury that required microfracture surgery on his right knee. Last year, he sustained a fractured patella on his left knee. Now, unrelated to the patella, is a new injury to his left knee, also requiring microfracture surgery. This guy was supposed to be the next Kevin Durant, right? Wait, my bad….same draft. That's right…the Blazers PASSED on Durant to get Oden. That's another story. Anyway, Oden was to be a star, and now folks are calling him a bust.

Flip to football, and the same story seems to be playing out for the Detroit Lions QB Matthew Stafford. On Sunday, he just sustained his third shoulder injury in just 2 years. When he has played, he has shown signs of being a great NFL quarterback. But injuries seem to just get him.

Locally, the Arkansas Razorbacks basketball team has its own "injury star." Michael Sanchez, a 6'8" power forward suffered yet another injury to his feet, this time another stress fracture.

We've seen this before. Looking through the past few years, names like Mark Prior, Sam Bowie, Eric Lindros, Yankees can't miss prospect from the 90's Brien Taylor, jump out----stars who have all of the potential but just can't seem to shake the injury bug. Just when you thought they were in the clear, something else comes up. Frustrating.

Then you have the list of folks who had their career cut short by major injuries (Bo Jackson & Gayle Sayers come to mind). These, while tragic and make you also want to ask the "what it coulda been" questions, are not what I want to talk about here. I am curious to know what makes some athletes more injury-prone than others. Let's go through a few reasons:

1. TOUGHNESS: great starting point. Are some athletes just not tough enough to handle it? Yes & no. There is a mental aspect of toughness that needs to be addressed. Some folks can grit it out, while others think the most minor ouchie is cause to sit out. If you did a major MRI, x-ray, & bone scan of every professional athlete, not one of them would come back 100% normal. Sports cause wear & tear on the body, and damage will be done. Sometimes you can push through it; sometimes you simply can't go on any longer & have to stop. But there is the physical side of it as well.
   
2. PHYSICAL STATE: genetically, we are all gifted differently. Some of us have the body composition to endure the rough demands of sport; some of us don't. Factor in things like joint flexibility, heredity, bone structure, muscle tightness and you have a wide range of diversity. Can just anyone
   
3. PREPARATION: the way one trains & prepares can have a significant impact on injury rates. It's important to go through a regimen in anticipation of a season, both to correct imbalances caused by injuries and also to make the body stronger & faster. But I have seen training intended for performance actually cause injury. Could it be that some of the oft-injured folks mentioned above are in this category? Maybe. But the problem is that you almost always only find that out after the fact.
   
4. EXTERNAL FACTORS: shoes, training surfaces, climate are all examples of things that can affect the way an athlete's body responds. Again, you won't know what's causing a problem until a problem presents itself.
   

Today's sport science allows us the use of new diagnostic tools like video analysis, strength & force output measurements, and testing methods. These tools can help us avoid injuries, or in the case of some of the athletes above, help identify things causing the injuries before they get too bad. It's amazing what we can detect nowadays in our training centers. I have been blessed with the opportunity to utilize tools like these to help athletes get over the issues.

I write all of this hopefully to stimulate some discussion. I also write to talk to the critical fan who quickly dismisses an athlete as just an "injury bust." It's not like they are doing this stuff on purpose. Sometimes it's out of their control.

 

Your turn.