1. You have chosen to ignore posts from Number6Fan. Show Number6Fan's posts

    Injury question

    posted at 2/12/2013 1:35 PM EST

    This is a real question so please don't hijack it into bashing or trash talking.

    Is it my imagination, or are there a lot more significant injuries to players now than there were back in the Good Old Days of the '60s and '70s?   Seems like many teams, not just the Celts, are having players going down for significant periods with back, knee, leg, foot injuries, etc.  I mean Howard, Rose, Dirk, Verajao, Gasol, Wall, Rondo . . . KG and Pearce a while ago, Perk, etc. etc.

    Other than losing to the Knicks when Havlicek injured his arm in the '72 playoffs, I don't remember a lot of injuries back then. 

    Any idea why?  Is it that the game has changed enough that players are asking their bodies to do too many weird hyper-athletic things that they didn't used to have to do?  Or are people more fragile?

    cheers --

     

  2. You have chosen to ignore posts from RallyC. Show RallyC's posts

    Re: Injury question

    posted at 2/12/2013 3:55 PM EST

    In response to Number6Fan's comment:

     

    This is a real question so please don't hijack it into bashing or trash talking.

    Is it my imagination, or are there a lot more significant injuries to players now than there were back in the Good Old Days of the '60s and '70s?   Seems like many teams, not just the Celts, are having players going down for significant periods with back, knee, leg, foot injuries, etc.  I mean Howard, Rose, Dirk, Verajao, Gasol, Wall, Rondo . . . KG and Pearce a while ago, Perk, etc. etc.

    Other than losing to the Knicks when Havlicek injured his arm in the '72 playoffs, I don't remember a lot of injuries back then. 

    Any idea why?  Is it that the game has changed enough that players are asking their bodies to do too many weird hyper-athletic things that they didn't used to have to do?  Or are people more fragile?

    cheers --

     



    Number6, there is no easy answer to your question. The supposition you state is a widely accepted theory. Today's athletes are unquestionably faster, stronger, and jump higher. But, the fundamental structure of the human body to include connective tissues , i.e. ligaments and tendons, along with the frame they are attached to, Skeleton, are virtually unchanged from the era you speak of. There is no doubt that the extra force, stress, and strain created by the increased muscle mass and speed of today's athletes have a significantly more severe impact on the integrity of the body when it is challenged so intensely. In other words, I think we are seeing today's athletes push the human body past its natural limits and it simply gives way to all of the violent maneuvers and force they constanly challenge it with. Call it "critical mass."

     

     

  3. You have chosen to ignore posts from Number6Fan. Show Number6Fan's posts

    Re: Injury question

    posted at 2/12/2013 5:15 PM EST

    In response to RallyC's comment:

    In response to Number6Fan's comment:

     

    This is a real question so please don't hijack it into bashing or trash talking.

    Is it my imagination, or are there a lot more significant injuries to players now than there were back in the Good Old Days of the '60s and '70s?   Seems like many teams, not just the Celts, are having players going down for significant periods with back, knee, leg, foot injuries, etc.  I mean Howard, Rose, Dirk, Verajao, Gasol, Wall, Rondo . . . KG and Pearce a while ago, Perk, etc. etc.

    Other than losing to the Knicks when Havlicek injured his arm in the '72 playoffs, I don't remember a lot of injuries back then. 

    Any idea why?  Is it that the game has changed enough that players are asking their bodies to do too many weird hyper-athletic things that they didn't used to have to do?  Or are people more fragile?

    cheers --

     



    Number6, there is no easy answer to your question. The supposition you state is a widely accepted theory. Today's athletes are unquestionably faster, stronger, and jump higher. But, the fundamental structure of the human body to include connective tissues , i.e. ligaments and tendons, along with the frame they are attached to, Skeleton, are virtually unchanged from the era you speak of. There is no doubt that the extra force, stress and strain created by the increased muscle mass and speed of today's athletes have a significantly more severe impact on the integrity of the body. In other words, I think we are seeing today's athletes push the human body past its natural limits and it simply gives way to all of the viloent force they are challenging it with. Call it critical mass.....

     




    Thanks.  Well put.

     

     

     

  4. You have chosen to ignore posts from painter. Show painter's posts

    Re: Injury question

    posted at 2/13/2013 4:45 PM EST

    In response to RallyC's comment:

    In response to Number6Fan's comment:

     

    This is a real question so please don't hijack it into bashing or trash talking.

    Is it my imagination, or are there a lot more significant injuries to players now than there were back in the Good Old Days of the '60s and '70s?   Seems like many teams, not just the Celts, are having players going down for significant periods with back, knee, leg, foot injuries, etc.  I mean Howard, Rose, Dirk, Verajao, Gasol, Wall, Rondo . . . KG and Pearce a while ago, Perk, etc. etc.

    Other than losing to the Knicks when Havlicek injured his arm in the '72 playoffs, I don't remember a lot of injuries back then. 

    Any idea why?  Is it that the game has changed enough that players are asking their bodies to do too many weird hyper-athletic things that they didn't used to have to do?  Or are people more fragile?

    cheers --

     



    Number6, there is no easy answer to your question. The supposition you state is a widely accepted theory. Today's athletes are unquestionably faster, stronger, and jump higher. But, the fundamental structure of the human body to include connective tissues , i.e. ligaments and tendons, along with the frame they are attached to, Skeleton, are virtually unchanged from the era you speak of. There is no doubt that the extra force, stress, and strain created by the increased muscle mass and speed of today's athletes have a significantly more severe impact on the integrity of the body when it is challenged so intensely. In other words, I think we are seeing today's athletes push the human body past its natural limits and it simply gives way to all of the violent maneuvers and force they constanly challenge it with. Call it "critical mass."

     



    +1  Bigger and stronger also applies to every opponents, and the force created between any two athletes has increased rather dramatically.  In the past, most b-ball players worked on conditioning and skills but stayed out of the weight room thinking that they'd get tight and restricted by more muscle mass.  The long and lean filled the league.  No more, obviously.