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Trying to bring back one of my favorite topics from the old board. In football, it is impossible to prevent injuries. But there are ways to minimize the chances. Here's to an ongoing thread that explores ideas from various articles. Feel free to provide your own input, ideas, and articles as well. Ultimately, what are our Bolts doing to minimize injuries?
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Chip Kelly flamed out as a HC in the NFL, but I love his implementation of Sports Science in the league. I will forever be grateful for that fact. Wish we could have gotten him as a consultant in 2017 when he was between jobs.
The Eagles are not the only NFL team to lean on science and technology in their training; the Giants, Jaguars and Falcons are also among the league's leaders in this area. And similar practices are ingrained in international sports such as soccer, since the frontline for much of the sports-science research and technology development is overseas in Europe and Russia.
But there is an unmistakable curiosity about what is taking place in Philadelphia. Perhaps it's because of Kelly's reputation as an innovator, or the tie to the military's most elite warriors, or the fact that the up-tempo offense Kelly became known for at Oregon is presumed to place special physical demands on his players.
Or perhaps it's because we want to see if thinking beyond the X's and O's can really help turn around a team that went 4-12 last season. No matter the reason, there's a story to be told about what's going on inside the walls of the NovaCare Complex, even if it's not one the Eagles are ready to tell.
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Change is the order of the day in Philly after Andy Reid's 14-year tenure. Some of what Kelly has wrought is obvious. His frenetic practices are set to deafening music of all genres--Kanye West and AC/DC and banquet-hall favorite "Cha Cha Slide"--that blares onto South Broad Street. And his staff introduced personalized protein shakes--center Jason Kelce's contains blueberries, avocado, 2% milk and vanilla protein powder--that players grab on their way off the practice field.
Why not devote significant resources ... to a cutting-edge approach that will help keep players on the field and maximize their performance?
But remaking a program through the application of sports science is a bigger and more multifaceted undertaking. The premise is simple: Teams invest millions in players; why not devote significant resources, including a dedicated position on the coaching staff, to a cutting-edge approach that will help keep players on the field and maximize their performance? In mid-March, the Eagles began developing something of a sports-science laboratory. Team president Don Smolenski told the Philadelphia Inquirer the team invested more than $1 million in equipment and technology upgrades this offseason. In keeping with the air of secrecy, the companies that provided the technology were reluctant to share specifics of how the Eagles are using their devices.
The array of technology creates a physiological dashboard for each player. Among the equipment: Catapult Sports' OptimEye sensors, which Barwin was wearing; heart-rate monitors from Polar; an Omegawave system that measures an athlete's readiness for training and competition; and weight-lifting technology from a company named EliteForm, with 3-D cameras that record not just how much an athlete is lifting but how quickly he is doing it. There is also the low-tech end: Players are asked to urinate in a cup before practice to check their hydration levels.
The result is a data-driven approach to training, which is compatible with and perhaps even necessary for the way Kelly coaches. In the up-tempo style he brought from Oregon--the Ducks averaged more than 81 offensive plays per game last season--players are perpetually on the move. Some sports scientists, like the University of Connecticut's William Kraemer, say research does not support the perception that an up-tempo pace imposes extreme fitness and recovery demands. But even so, sports-science technology can play an important role in preventing overuse, overtraining and the often accompanying soft-tissue injuries.
"Everyone is saying that going at this pace, people are going to burn out," says offensive tackle Dennis Kelly, "but they're making sure we're getting the rest we need to recover."
The OptimEye trackers, of which the Eagles have about 55, record a player's movements through the course of a practice, allowing coaches to quantify acceleration, agility and the percentage of time the player is running at max speed versus standing around. An incentive not to slack off? Sure. But this is also a way to determine how much stress a workout places on a player's body.
Monitoring heart rate is another way to gauge training load, as well as how close a player is at any given point of his workout to maximum exertion. The Polar system generates post-workout recovery reports, with a timestamp for when an athlete can next handle more training. Mike Valentino, Polar's national sales manager for team sports, says a Big East women's soccer team saw a 75% decrease in soft-tissue injuries during its first season using the technology. And the Omegawave system uses an electrocardiogram transmitter and a pair of electrodes that tap into the central nervous system to measure stress, fatigue and capacity for aerobic or anaerobic exercise. Players can log into their personal computers to check their own fitness profiles.
But data means the most when there's an expert there to understand and apply it, and that's where Huls comes in. Says Barwin, "If you're suddenly more sore than usual, or you start to feel an injury pop up, you can go check with him and see what your numbers look like for that practice, and see why." -
It's too late for Nas...We do not play modern football.Comment
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Stanford has a great injury "prevention" program. However, it seems that there's a tradeoff when players make it to the NFL (ie. lack of power for certain positional groups). At least from what I heard because it seems like what they are doing sounds great. Turley should be our strength and conditioning coach
https://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/31/s...-strength.html
Turley's impact speaks as much to availability as ability. The coaches recruit speed and size and talent. He believes the best players, the ones most on the field, who sustain the most collisions, also carry the most injury risk. His first priority is to keep them on the field.
From 2006, the year before Turley arrived on the Farm, as Stanford's campus is known, through last season, the number of games missed because of injury on the two-deep roster dropped by 87 percent. In 2012, only two Cardinal players required season-ending or postseason surgical repair; this year, only one. In an era in which injuries are more scrutinized than ever, this has made Turley something of a celebrity strength coach. Counterparts from other colleges visited. As did N.F.L. personnel.
As did Australian Rules football teams. The student newspaper wrote a three-part series about Turley. Bleacher Report compiled a big article. The National Strength and Conditioning Association named Turley its strength and conditioning coach of the year in 2013.
Turley is a strength coach, and he is not a strength coach, or not exactly. Strength is not his focus. Function is. Balance is. Flexibility is.
His approach is grounded in physics, on the premise that low man wins on contact, that to get low requires mobility and stability and the ability to apply force in the opposite direction. His players bench press, but he cares more about how they lift -- with hands closer together, without bouncing the bar off their chests -- than how much. He wants them to bend all the way down when they squat.
Freshmen in Turley's program do not lift weights upon arrival. Instead, for the first few weeks, they do "body work," or push-ups and pull-ups and squats or lunges without weights; basically old-school, military calisthenics.
"You have all these different genres of training, and we steal from them all," Turley said. "CrossFit. Bodybuilding. Power lifting. But ultimately, it's none of those. It's a system we've developed to train football players."
A self-described terrible athlete, Turley was always better at training for a sport than playing it. At Virginia Tech, he volunteered as a student assistant trainer. He noticed the best players in the weight room often were not the best players on the field. That made little sense.
He read research papers and went to clinics and peppered trainers and physical therapists and doctors with questions. He watched YouTube clips. He devoured training manuals.
Eventually, he developed a basic program, or seven basic programs, divided by position groups, with one for linemen and one for quarterbacks and one for hybrids. Some of those are personalized for specific players with injuries or weaknesses that require variations.
Turley does not need a "horrendously large weight-room floor" or "Brazilian hardwood floors." He wants equipment that is versatile and efficient. One of his favorite exercises, the push-up bridge, in which players stabilize their body in a plank position and spell out words using one arm, requires only a towel and the floor. The core boards are leaned on and stood on and can be used at practice or in the weight room.For the subtle art of injury prevention, the Cardinal stretch and stretch and stretch. They stretch before and after lifts and before and after practice. They stretch for fun.
Even Coach David Shaw has a tailored program. He spends most fall Saturday afternoons standing on the sideline, which tightens his lower back. The work afterward, according to Shaw, involves his "posterior chain" and stretching. A portion of what cut down on Stanford's pulled muscles and hamstring tweaks -- "Shannon's immeasurable impact," Shaw said -- also works for its coach.
Turley pays particular attention to his players' Functional Movement Screen scores. The F.M.S. is a durability index, what Turley calls "a predictive, quantitative analysis of quality of movement." That is the first test he conducts. It evaluates seven movements and scores players as balanced, functional, overpowered, dysfunctional and injury prone. It shows if a player executes a movement better with his left leg than his right, pointing out asymmetries.
Although Stanford players may not perform as well in the bench press, or in the 40-yard dash at the N.F.L. combine, they often top the charts on F.M.S. scores. Asked for an example, Turley cited Richard Sherman, a fifth-round pick who became a dominant cornerback for the Seattle Seahawks.
Sherman arrived at Stanford before Turley, and he remembered all the "gruesome injuries" and teammates lost for the season. He still applies many of the techniques he learned at Stanford, like the core board.
"We have an advantage when we get into the N.F.L.," Sherman said. "It shows you how little scouts know in their assessments. I'll roll with Shannon Turley."
In addition to the weight-room work, Turley encourages his players to incorporate yoga and hot yoga. Stanford used to bring in an instructor, until N.C.A.A. rules limited the number of strength coaches.Asked what N.F.L. scouts should focus on, he says ankle mobility. The ankle begins the chain of movement. Such thinking enabled Stanford to outscore its opponents in the first and fourth quarters by 144 points in 2010, 115 points in 2011 and 102 points in 2012.
Others have taken notice. Brett Fischer founded Fischer Sports, and every spring, many college football players arrive there to train for the combine, players from major universities with major muscle imbalances and poor range of motion.
"I tell all the guys," Fischer said, "all the giants, the huge-looking guys, the Adonis-looking people, if you cannot move, you will not last. It's a game of speed and movement and the lowest player wins."Last edited by Xenos; 06-04-2019, 03:55 PM.Comment
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Barefoot running.
end thread.
jk
great topic
great info
looking forward to reading moreGimmie Bower Power!!Comment
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Great articles. Thanks for that.Now, if you excuse me, I have some Charger memories to suppress.
The Wasted Decade is done.
Build Back Better.Comment
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Yeah thanks Xenos for all the info you provide.Originally posted by Formula 21 View PostWe do not play modern football.Comment
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RT Taliese Fuaga, DT Jer'Zhan Newton, NT T'Vondre Sweat, LB Cedric Gray, TE Ben Sinnott, RB Daijun Edwards, FS Cole Bishop, QB Joe MiltonComment
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beach has gone all Ayurvedic on us.
You never know what he is gonna find in the sand with his metal detector...
:smile:We do not play modern football.Comment
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I have that article as well. One of the first things I wanted to know when Lynn got here. How was he going to deal with all the injuries?Originally posted by 21&500 View Post
And to him, the barefoot training really makes sense.
"In terms of strengthening and stretching, the feet don't get enough attention as maybe they should," Lowery said. "And, they're really the foundation of your body."
The thought process, he explained, is that stronger, more flexible feet can reduce lower-body injuries, and anything that can reduce injuries should be probably be explored. Last season, the team had a league-leading 20 players end up on the injured reserve list.
"It just felt like a huge issue," Lowery said.
With the hope of focusing more on injury prevention than on injury treatment, the team turned to Lott this offseason, and in the early parts of the offseason coach Anthony Lynn has referred to it as Lott's team.
"Conditioning is going to be the No. 1 priority for us in the first two or three weeks. We want to build a base so when we start doing real football stuff -- cuts, explosive movements -- we can do those things without getting hurt," he said at the NFL owners meetings in late March. "I think a lot of guys today train position-specific too much. I want to go back to base training -- 300s, 400s, working in some distance with our conditioning."
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I know that it's been hard to see players injured on our team. But I think this article back from 2017 does show that the team is trying:
"We all knew that we've got to figure something out," general manager Tom Telesco told me after an injury-free (whew!) practice Tuesday. "We just can't rely on the fact that, oh it's football, and you're going to have injuries, and we've had some bad luck. So we looked at every injury, how it happened when it happened, the situation and circumstances around it. And as far as player personnel and bringing guys in, we've always been on the cautious side in terms of bringing in players, but it might not always seem like that."
The charge to discern ways to curb this trend started at the very top with ownership, and involved all specters of football operations. Were they drafting the wrong, injury-prone players? Did their offseason workout program and OTA structure have anything to do with it? How many of these injuries may have been preventable through different medical or strength and conditioning means?
Everything went under the microscope, from strength and conditioning to the training room, recovery techniques, biomechanics, assessing their facilities and equipment and nutritional programs. They rethought practice scheduled and methods of evaluating injury histories in regards to player acquisition.
The exercise included studying other pro and college football programs, but the team also reached out to MLB's Dodgers and Angels for methods and theories of injury prevention, with Telesco engaging in conversations with forward-thinking baseball execs like Josh Byrnes and Billy Eppler for advice and strategies. They wanted to take a major step back and evaluate everything from the grassroots on up with a holistic approach, with the endeavor no small part of their overall offseason plan, and coming amid a franchise relocation no less.
"This is something I really started taking a look at during the season last year," Telesco said. "You can have layer personnel and coaching going, which is great, but guys have to stay on the field and we have to find ways to do that. You're constantly trying to work to find an edge in what you can do to keep a player on the field."The club overhauled its strength staff, the most tangible sign of change. John Lott, with 19 years of experience, took over as strength and condition coordinator, and they hired Jonathan Brooks from esteemed training company EXOS, which specializes in prepping draft prospects for the combine, as an assistant strength coach and Larry Jackson from Texas A&M, as another assistant.
"We changed up our offseason program and it was different from what they are used to," rookie head coach Anthony Lynn said. "We focused on more basic training at the very beginning of OTAs and more distance running. Working on stamina. Trying to limit fatigue. Because we found out a lot our soft tissue injuries were coming from fatigue. So instead of being just position specific we opened it up to more track-like practices, and I think that will make a big difference.
"The key in the offseason for the strength and conditioning staff was to figure out which guys need what, because you can't just throw one cookie cutter program out there to try to fit everyone. And John Lott I think is one of the best in the game and I think he's done a heck of a job figuring that out."Comment
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Football Outsiders uses a metric called "Adjusted Games Lost" to try to quantify the quantity and extent of starting time lost to injury. We were second to last in 2016 (only the Bears beat us out at #32) with an AGL of 127.8. You do not want a high AGL.
https://www.footballoutsiders.com/st...ted-games-lost
However, in 2017 we moved up to #16 with an AGL of 67.6. We were even higher that year before the Chiefs game wrecked us.
https://www.footballoutsiders.com/st...ted-games-lost
In 2018, we dropped back down to 25th (an AGL of exactly 100) despite keeping everything the same as 2017. So what happened? Do we need to keep looking for new ideas and continue to evolve?
https://www.footballoutsiders.com/st...es-lost-part-iLast edited by Xenos; 06-05-2019, 03:54 PM.Comment
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