In my Hard2Guard Player Development Newsletter from last week (Volume 2, Issue #19), I wrote about protecting one's feet and back. In it, I quoted a Men's Health article which interviewed Dr. Stuart McGill, the foremost spine authority in the world:
The importance of having a tight spine – that is, a spine well supported by muscles and ligaments – has made McGill not only weary of excessive stretching but also more inclined to warn athletes of the risk of sitting for a lengthy period and then springing up to do something arduous. “Your spinal ligaments can stay lax for an additional 20 minutes after you stand up,” says McGill. You know all those NBA players with balky backs? Think about the toll placed on benchwarmers required to sit ‘with their knees in their ears’ and then told to go box out Dwight Howard.
If sitting in the low seats and then returning quickly to action is bad for the back, why doesn't the NBA make an effort to change this? What about using chairs with higher seats, like Phil Jackson, for all players so they sit taller with less hip flexion? Of course, the answer is that seven-footers sitting on higher seats would block a few rows of high-priced seats. If higher seats is not the answer, what is?
In soccer/football, when a coach intends to use a substitute, the substitute warms-up again on the side. Of course, there is no room on a basketball sideline. However, most teams use a fairly standard rotation. Why not send players to the tunnel a couple minutes before they re-enter the game to loosen up again?
If this impacts as many players as McGill suggests, shouldn't the NBA do something to help its product? If there was some way to prevent Kobe's back injury, wouldn't it be worth it financially to the NBA to do almost anything to prevent a post-season injury to one of its most precious superstars?
3 comments:
As much as I hated to see the NCAA final four in a football arena, it did show that a court can be played elevated. This would give people the same vantage point as the have now, but allow for the players to sit in larger chairs. It still won't happen because of the seats on the bench, like at staples.
When Dennis Rodman played for the Pistons he had problems with his back . Rather than let Rodman stiffen up, the Pistons eventually had a stationary bike put in the tunnel out of the view of the fans and Rodman would ride the bike rather than sit on the bench.
I thought of both ideas. I remembered someone using the bike, but couldn't remember who. I also thought of the raised floor, or lowered bench, a la Vanderbilt, but we know the NBA would not do anything to sacrifice revenue, even if it improves the product.
If I was an engineer, I'd create an ergonomically correct chair for people 6'6 to 7'0 to pitch to the NBA...
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