Whats causing all these injuries?

[strt182]

I know theres many reasons and will always be some injuries in football, but it seems even with the soft rules now a days more players are getting hurt. I played peewee and middle school football until my dad bought a drag car and i turned my focus to that. 

 

I remember how bulky the pads were back in the 80's. Is it the turfs, the foods we eat making us more brittle? are the injury numbers the same but just reported more? 

 

Just curious what you all think.  

[2006Coltsbestever]

Ever since Deflategate, league officials ordered to make Lucas Oil Stadium's turf out of concrete, yes concrete  Also anytime the Colts gain more than 10 yards on any play, it will be a holding penalty as that is mandatory

[King Colt]

It's a head scratcher!

[strt182]

Although the Colts are heavily injured it seems like its league wide.

[zibby43]

Injuries are usually the product of a few things:

 

1) Bad strength and conditioning

 

- There is technology today that can evaluate players' physical makeups and predict which muscles, ligaments, etc. are weak/susceptible.  The S&C coach can then use this information to strengthen the vulnerable part of the athlete's body through customized training.  This is a very simplified explanation.

 

- Many teams implement GPS monitoring of every single player on the field.  The tiny devices track acceleration rates, heart rates, exertion levels and speed.  With GPS, you can roll back the workload on guys that are over-exerting themselves in practice or games (over-exertion leads to poor performance and increases injury susceptibility). 

 

- Furthermore, new S&C programs can measure how explosive a player is when executing a particular lift/movement (EliteForm).  The goal is to improve this explosiveness throughout the season.  Maintaining players' weights and strength is vital to staying healthy.

 

- There is zero indication the Colts are using any of this technology (as far as I am aware).  Several elite collegiate programs started using these methods with great results.  Perhaps the Colts should too, if they aren't already.

 

2) Bad nutrition and lack of sleep

 

- Pretty self-explanatory.  I would be shocked if the Colts did not have a team dietician and specifically tailored diets for every player on the roster.  Each player needs to be monitored in-season.  Are the Colts doing this?  You would think.  Most elite teams do.

 

3) Bad technique with respect to football movements

 

- Dropping the crown of your head on a tackle (Geathers learned this lesson the hard way), etc.

 

4) Bad equipment

 

- Footwear, footwear, footwear.  Properly fitted cleats with the correct spikes for a given playing surface/weather condition have a tremendous impact on the entire lower body.  Think of feet/cleats like tires.  Many people underestimate how important car tires are.  In reality, your tires are the only car part that touches the road. 

 

- If players' cleat-clad feet aren't interacting with the playing surface properly (cleats sticking or slipping), you can start to get some ugly results (non-contact knee and Achilles injuries, etc.).

 

5) Bad luck

 

- Football is a violent game.  Unless you're a longsnapper, holder, kicker, or punter, the odds are against you in terms of staying healthy over a 16-game season.

 

Hope that was helpful and can kick-start some research and/or discussion about where the Colts fit in with all of the factors I listed above.

[UKColt13]

Football.

[HungarianColtsFan]

Colts are cursed. Hire a witch!

[LockeDown]

Players take HGH in order to get that big, fast body, so they can get a big $$$ contract.  Penalties for such aren't that bad, so they risk it.  Testing is random.  Collisions at higher speeds.  No form tackling today.  Weight program without flexibility training.  Maybe dehydration because of what they are taking could cause issues.  Grippier turf.  

[Indeee]

4 hours ago, zibby43 said:

Injuries are usually the product of a few things:

 

1) Bad strength and conditioning

 

- There is technology today that can evaluate players' physical makeups and predict which muscles, ligaments, etc. are weak/susceptible.  The S&C coach can then use this information to strengthen the vulnerable part of the athlete's body through customized training.  This is a very simplified explanation.

 

- Many teams implement GPS monitoring of every single player on the field.  The tiny devices track acceleration rates, heart rates, exertion levels and speed.  With GPS, you can roll back the workload on guys that are over-exerting themselves in practice or games (over-exertion leads to poor performance and increases injury susceptibility). 

 

- Furthermore, new S&C programs can measure how explosive a player is when executing a particular lift/movement (EliteForm).  The goal is to improve this explosiveness throughout the season.  Maintaining players' weights and strength is vital to staying healthy.

 

- There is zero indication the Colts are using any of this technology (as far as I am aware).  Several elite collegiate programs started using these methods with great results.  Perhaps the Colts should too, if they aren't already.

 

2) Bad nutrition and lack of sleep

 

- Pretty self-explanatory.  I would be shocked if the Colts did not have a team dietician and specifically tailored diets for every player on the roster.  Each player needs to be monitored in-season.  Are the Colts doing this?  You would think.  Most elite teams do.

 

3) Bad technique with respect to football movements

 

- Dropping the crown of your head on a tackle (Geathers learned this lesson the hard way), etc.

 

4) Bad equipment

 

- Footwear, footwear, footwear.  Properly fitted cleats with the correct spikes for a given playing surface/weather condition have a tremendous impact on the entire lower body.  Think of feet/cleats like tires.  Many people underestimate how important car tires are.  In reality, your tires are the only car part that touches the road. 

 

- If players' cleat-clad feet aren't interacting with the playing surface properly (cleats sticking or slipping), you can start to get some ugly results (non-contact knee and Achilles injuries, etc.).

 

5) Bad luck

 

- Football is a violent game.  Unless you're a longsnapper, holder, kicker, or punter, the odds are against you in terms of staying healthy over a 16-game season.

 

Hope that was helpful and can kick-start some research and/or discussion about where the Colts fit in with all of the factors I listed above.

As stated as your number one reason (strength and conditioning), this is why I'm hoping the Colts take a serious look at Toub as HC. Impressive S&C experience and even though the Chiefs do have some injuries as do other teams, far less than the Colts during his tenure in KC

[King Colt]

no contact practices

[jskinnz]

The NFL is multi-billion dollar industry whose main commodity are the players.  With that as the case, it strikes me as completely unreasonable that teams would not uncover every stone in search of a competitive advantage in order to keep guys on the field.  That would include access to the best strength and conditioning, nutrition, equipment, etc available.  I think they do everything and try to learn everything possible to keep guys healthy. 

 

To me the answer to the OP's question is simple - guys get hurt because they are big and fast and fun into each other at a high rate of speed.  I am sure injuries can be limited to a certain extent with the things mentioned but the overall nature of the game while always make it one of attrition.  Not sure much can be done about that.

 

 

[GoColtsWin]

@strt182Seems that since D-Free was battling his injuries in the Super Bowl against the Saints, we have had a seasonal problem with team-wide injuries or IR’d players unable to compete. Ergo, one can ONLY deduce that Cajun magic, and a powerful Voodoo curse is at work. Undoubtably placed on us by Greg Williams, when he was “head hunting” for New Orleans! 

[The Peytonator]

A lot of people like to say how players are soft now because of all the time missed due to injuries. They like to point out how *insert name here* played an entire season with a decapitated head back in 1934, but what they don’t point out is that people are much bigger, faster, and stronger than they were in the past eras of football. A few decades ago your average offensive lineman was 250 pounds, and football was a side job. Players now have spent their entire lives grooming themselves into the 6’6, 330 pound behemoths that we see today. Combine that with a better knowledge of player health, we know all about CTE and there isn’t much benefit to repeated blows to the head, and I can’t blame a dude for being cautious with injuries. I feel bad for the rookie deal, UDFAs that really risk their long term health for the chance at making it in the league. Those guys don’t have the luxury that the more established players have to be mindful of their brain’s future. 

[Defjamz26]

In one of the topics about Luck’s injury, someone posted a link to a radio interview with a doctor who’s considered a shoulder expert in the sports world. He suggested that Luck had biceps tendinitis. In that video they also asked him why there were so many injuries and he suggested it was the turf. If someone knows the interview I’m talking about and could provide a link, that’d be great.

[Colttodd18]

Go back and look at the pads players used  10-20 years ago. The shoulder pads were bigger and well as most linebackers used neck rolls. 

Mom sure players want more speed so their equipment has gotten smaller. Also * poor tackling techniques by smaller DBs. 

[tikyle]

49 minutes ago, jskinnz said:

The NFL is multi-billion dollar industry whose main commodity are the players.  With that as the case, it strikes me as completely unreasonable that teams would not uncover every stone in search of a competitive advantage in order to keep guys on the field.  That would include access to the best strength and conditioning, nutrition, equipment, etc available.  I think they do everything and try to learn everything possible to keep guys healthy.

 

That assumption would be correct, the only problem is if the heads of industry believe all their commodities sans the QB are replaceable then it makes your entire statement mute.

 

These owners want to win, but not at any cost at least financially not at any cost.

[aaron11]

some people think its the turf at LOS. 

 

im not saying it is or isnt the reason for our injuries, but somebody did come up with some stats that make do make it look like a real possibility 

 

not the link i was looking for, but this has comments from current players https://www.stampedeblue.com/2016/10/31/13481414/chiefs-say-playing-surface-at-lucas-oil-stadium-one-of-worst-in-nfl

[Lucky Colts Fan]

Did anyone watch the Big 10 Championship game played at Lucas Oil Stadium?

 

Lower left corner - the turf comes undone when a player is trying to get leverage on a goal-line play.

 

They had to stop the game so they could fix the turf.

 

That looks like a recipe for ankle and knee injuries to me...

 

I might have been safer playing with no pads on my friends' gently-sloping lumpy backyard when I was a kid...
 

[jskinnz]

2 hours ago, tikyle said:

 

That assumption would be correct, the only problem is if the heads of industry believe all their commodities sans the QB are replaceable then it makes your entire statement mute.

 

These owners want to win, but not at any cost at least financially not at any cost.

 

First, the word is moot - not mute.

 

Second, the rest of your point really does not make a lot of sense.  Accepting your premise as true, which I don't, but let's pretend...

     *  Even if the only irreplaceable player is a QB, wouldn't in any given year the team do all it possibly could to keep those replaceable players on the field?

 

     * How much additional cost is there for a nutritionist to determine a different menu?  Or for an S&C coach to determine that yoga is a better warm up than traditional football related exercises?  Certainly not enough for them to not do it.

[strt182]

12 hours ago, Colttodd18 said:

Go back and look at the pads players used  10-20 years ago. The shoulder pads were bigger and well as most linebackers used neck rolls. 

Mom sure players want more speed so their equipment has gotten smaller. Also * poor tackling techniques by smaller DBs. 

That is something I had made to emphasize. I was a running back and nose tackle (played all 4 sides actually) and had to wear a neck pad. in 1986 i was the smallest kid in the league at Garfield Park.  

[JaguarsWoman]

On 12/6/2017 at 7:43 AM, King Colt said:

no contact practices

 

What about them? The CBA strictly limits padded practices to one each week all season and players get hurt anyway,

[King Colt]

14 minutes ago, JaguarsWoman said:

 

What about them? The CBA strictly limits padded practices to one each week all season and players get hurt anyway,

There is no tackling in practices in the CFL. One theory is the cleats, their size, design and number. One thing that often goes unmentioned is the injuries that players have but play regardless. Many players prep for hours just to suit up as a result of years of punishment. Then look at some players years after they retire as the struggle daily just to function normally. Football is not a contact sport, dancing is. Football is a collision sport.

[JaguarsWoman]

40 minutes ago, King Colt said:

There is no tackling in practices in the CFL. One theory is the cleats, their size, design and number. One thing that often goes unmentioned is the injuries that players have but play regardless. Many players prep for hours just to suit up as a result of years of punishment. Then look at some players years after they retire as the struggle daily just to function normally. Football is not a contact sport, dancing is. Football is a collision sport.

 

If players can't tackle in practice, how do they develop good tackling techniques for game day?

 

Many players think they have to be tough in a place full of alpha males and are too competitive to have any interest in sitting out if they are physically able to play. They do not know where to draw the line between helping the team win by playing hurt and helping themselves get healthy. That is why we see so many players with nagging injuries that last all year and games with two injury timeouts for the same player.

 

And you're wrong, football is a contact sport. Just not in the same way as dancing.

[JaguarsWoman]

23 hours ago, Lucky Colts Fan said:

Did anyone watch the Big 10 Championship game played at Lucas Oil Stadium?

 

Lower left corner - the turf comes undone when a player is trying to get leverage on a goal-line play.

 

They had to stop the game so they could fix the turf.

 

That looks like a recipe for ankle and knee injuries to me.

 

I saw that too. Gus Johnson said the black stuff is velcro. All of the strips were clearly visible. I told my mom there is no reason they needed to put temporary sod on the turf because the grounds crew could have painted it. With Indy on the road last week, they had time to do whatever it took to make the end zones red without putting new turf on it.

[King Colt]

3 hours ago, JaguarsWoman said:

 

If players can't tackle in practice, how do they develop good tackling techniques for game day?

 

Many players think they have to be tough in a place full of alpha males and are too competitive to have any interest in sitting out if they are physically able to play. They do not know where to draw the line between helping the team win by playing hurt and helping themselves get healthy. That is why we see so many players with nagging injuries that last all year and games with two injury timeouts for the same player.

 

And you're wrong, football is a contact sport. Just not in the same way as dancing.

And you say I am wrong because you say dancing and football are similar............ I'll refrain from comment.