What's with all the calf injuries?

O_V

O_V

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Maybe this doesn't deserve its own thread, but we've seen some big name players go down with Achilles injuries on the heels of a calf injury, pun intended.

I understand if the Spurs are overly cautious with Vic and Harp.

Now heard that Blac McClung (I love that nickname) is out with a calf injury.

I don't think training has changed drastically over the last several years, but I'd bet that with all the extra rest, guys aren't warming up or stretching like they should.

Thoughts?
 
Probably the recent correlation of calf injuries and ACL blowouts after coming back, especially during last season's Playoffs, has caused a reaction to prevent these things from escalating.
 
In all seriousness, I'm a little bit surprised that Wemby is experiencing this. His stretching and flexibility routines I thought would insulate him a little bit more from these types of injuries... but at the end of the day we're all humans with flesh, muscle and tissue.
 
scott said:
In all seriousness, I'm a little bit surprised that Wemby is experiencing this. His stretching and flexibility routines I thought would insulate him a little bit more from these types of injuries... but at the end of the day we're all humans with flesh, muscle and tissue.
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Yeah, great point. I didn't think of that. I wonder why so many players are getting them. I know this probably doesn't mean anything in regard to it, but more people are wearing low top basketball shoes these days compared to years before. Could this be a thing? They used to say low tops don't affect ankle injuries, but what about calf injuries?
 
scott said:
In all seriousness, I'm a little bit surprised that Wemby is experiencing this. His stretching and flexibility routines I thought would insulate him a little bit more from these types of injuries... but at the end of the day we're all humans with flesh, muscle and tissue.
Click to expand...
Devin Brown thinks it's just Mitch wanting to get Wemby a day off, wanting to get Fox going, and wanting to do it against a garbage team they could still beat anyway.

As he put it "Will Sevening would go up to Timmy with a chart of injuries and have Timmy pick which one he wants to use today"
 
wemvp said:
Devin Brown thinks it's just Mitch wanting to get Wemby a day off, wanting to get Fox going, and wanting to do it against a garbage team they could still beat anyway.

As he put it "Will Sevening would go up to Timmy with a chart of injuries and have Timmy pick which one he wants to use today"
Click to expand...
Cool insight. I didn't think of it this way. I'm glad it didn't come back to bite us.
 
O_V said:
Maybe this doesn't deserve its own thread, but we've seen some big name players go down with Achilles injuries on the heels of a calf injury, pun intended.

I understand if the Spurs are overly cautious with Vic and Harp.

Now heard that Blac McClung (I love that nickname) is out with a calf injury.

I don't think training has changed drastically over the last several years, but I'd bet that with all the extra rest, guys aren't warming up or stretching like they should.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...
My guess would be combo near extreme hypertrophy constant leaping and general overtraining. These guys really are pushing the human body to its limits, they've fine-tuned and maxed out the quick twitch muscles, then jump a lil too much a lit too often and...pop.
 
It's because of the way how players play nowadays way more intense horizontal moves then vertical jumps and straight line sprints when attacking and defending. (They still do vertical moves but added a lot of sudden horizontal changes of direction). All those fancy steps instead of jumpers are creating heavy and unnatural load on lower legs.
 
Ni-G said:
It's because of the way how players play nowadays way more intense horizontal moves then vertical jumps and straight line sprints when attacking and defending. (They still do vertical moves but added a lot of sudden horizontal changes of direction). All those fancy steps instead of jumpers are creating heavy and unnatural load on lower legs.
Click to expand...
These shoes are supposedly designed for SHIZ to prevent any kind of injury, with endless papers from doctors and scientists breaking it down to the most microscopic detail. But what do you expect from companies obsessed with squeezing every last penny? Turns out, Mars Blackmon was always right. We need better shoes—crafted with real science and actual materials—not this overpriced, mass-produced, sweatshop special nonsense.
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Arguendo said:
My guess would be combo near extreme hypertrophy constant leaping and general overtraining. These guys really are pushing the human body to its limits, they've fine-tuned and maxed out the quick twitch muscles, then jump a lil too much a lit too often and...pop.
Click to expand...
This was my initial thought also. The science is leading to better ideas about training. The training is maximizing the performance of the players. The performance increases are taking the players to dangerously close to the cliff edge between maximum ability and possible injury.
 
I’m pretty sure that this was a reason given to take a day off without getting penalized by the league.
 
Arguendo said:
My guess would be combo near extreme hypertrophy constant leaping and general overtraining. These guys really are pushing the human body to its limits, they've fine-tuned and maxed out the quick twitch muscles, then jump a lil too much a lit too often and...pop.
Click to expand...
I agree with this. Training these days is next level.

I would also add that general tweaks or minor tightness/soreness etc was often overlooked years back. You just played through that stuff and it was never considered an injury. Most of these minor things probably weren’t even reported.

Now if you get the slightest bit of discomfort its addressed like a legitimate injury.
 
Corso said:
Probably the recent correlation of calf injuries and ACL blowouts after coming back, especially during last season's Playoffs, has caused a reaction to prevent these things from escalating.
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Yes. Completely correct.

The whole fascination with the potential horror of calf strains began with KD in the playoffs several years ago.
 
I think from a business standpoint you want to protect your most valuable assets. Recovery is also being recognized more than just grinding your body to dust mentality of yore. I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing.
 
I think the game is too fast pace now and that lead to overuse and overstraining of muscles. Score are in the 120+.

Teams are also insane enough to play full court defense from the 1st possession (see OKC vs Pacer in the playoffs)

In the 90s and 2000s, players take their time to bring ball to half court, pass the ball around and dump the ball to the big man. Usually they make full use of the shot clock. Now teams are just chucking up shots with 20 secs left in the shot clock and that hasten the transition between offense and defense.

Overall I think that the players' bodies are just not built to withstand the fast pace of the game for 82 games
 
Um...NBA teams used to play a dozen back to back to back games a season with 120 point averages playing 35-40 minutes a night.

In canvas shoes.

I didn't know about the Victor injury when I created this thread, but it's a good point about his stretching routine and flexibility. I wonder if someone will chart rest and minutes of the guys who have suffered this injury.
 
Maybe they'll let players play defense again. Slow the game down. Bring back post play. Let the bigs bang down low. Make basketball great again
 
wemvp said:
Devin Brown thinks it's just Mitch wanting to get Wemby a day off, wanting to get Fox going, and wanting to do it against a garbage team they could still beat anyway.

As he put it "Will Sevening would go up to Timmy with a chart of injuries and have Timmy pick which one he wants to use today"
Click to expand...
I can imagine the convo with Timmy that one time. “How about just DNP: old?”
 
I mean, Timmy actually had all of those injuries for the last 5+ years of his career. He just played through it on most nights.
 
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