KermitJagger
Professional Thread Derailer
- May 17, 2017
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- Hawthorn
I have no doubt they're doing a great job - as do the AFL medical teams, but it's a blindspot I don't think we have evolved to fully realize just yet as an industry. Getting better of course but there's still so much I'm sure our team could be better at considering how many of the same injuries keep popping up year on year. And despite what's often thrown out there the majority aren't bad luck, just issues hidden from the naked eye.
Teaching someone how to run well is one thing. Getting then stronger is another. But being able to see where they are inefficient and potentially liable to future injury still seems a work in progress from what I see.
I love seeing gym pics from preseason because it's a great way to see how people move under load and fatigue. It gives a window into their issues (if any) for someone who can't assess them for myself in real time. If they can't be perfect here in a controlled and focused setting it's almost impossible to expect them to suddenly be perfect during more complex and dynamic things like running - hence a susceptibility to injury.
For example with Taylor Adams in one of the above videos:
- I'm sure he's super fit and strong atm, but hes stiffer than he should be at either his ankles (most likely) or hips judging by the screenshots below. It's not something many are likely to notice if he doesn't have pain there. As much as I hate to say it, we still have elements of thinking something is only an issue if it hurts, and if it doesn't it's all good.
- At the bottom of his deadlift he runs into the end of his ankle range and his knees jutt in slightly. His right is more obvious than his left in the video. This basically forces his arches, ankles, knees, and hips into a poor mechanical position. Lo and behold, when we see him sprinting later on his feet turn out wildly. The legs work best as pistons and as soon as we add too much rotation to the system things can fail over time.
Not saying Taylor will get injured because of this (nothing is guaranteed) and obviously I'd love to assess him personally to make sure these are genuine things and not just a one-off, but they highlight what I'd be looking for if wanting to take someone from having a decent injury history like Taylor and hoping to stop things from popping up again in the future.
It's all very subtle but the last image is a pretty good expression of good mechanics when deadlifting.
Feet straight. Knees rotated outside of the feet. There's a bunch of other stuff for the rest of the body but I'll leave that for another day.
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Love your work mate, but yes as a pretty seasoned lifter the deadlift form is fairly obviously off. Flat footed, knees collapsing in slightly. Would be interesting to see him squat.
