Ryan Sweeney, Injury Analysis

I prepared the following analysis for an Injury Prevention presentation at the Children's Hospital in Oakland at the beginning of this year. At that point Mr. Sweeney was recuperating from his surgery and I explained that, in my opinion, with not changes in his running mechanics he will continuous with leg problems.

Since March 2009 Ryan Sweeney suffers from left knee problems: “he reported feeling tight quadriceps during and after practice”. Two months latter, in June, he sprained his left knee ligament. The local media reported that “Sweeney tried doing some running Monday but cornering proved too painful, and he'd missed the past five games”.
In July 2010 a severe tendinitis in the right knee sent Mr. Sweeney to the surgery room. In December 3rd the media reported that “his surgically repaired right knee is coming along well” and also that “his left knee also has caused him trouble, but Sweeney chose rehab over surgery for that knee”. Sweeney is still dealing with the problem in the left knee after one and a half year.
The previous summary of events denotes that the management, rehabilitation and return to competition of Mr. Sweeney did not have a great success.
When analyzing a high-speed video film that I performed during a game in May of 2010, I discovered that several mechanical problems during batting and running might have a major impact in Mr. Sweeney’s injuries:

During the last phase of the batting, it is possible to observe a rotation of the foot that generates a compression load in the medial aspect of the right ankle and knee joint.
If we consider that that his batting average is about .300 and that an average pro player makes around 200 hits per session we can estimate that he will be in plate (and also attempt to hit) ~667 times per session. We need to add the number of hit-practices and he might be in the range of 1000 hits a year. Considering that he has already 5 years of pro career and maybe another 4 or 5 years as a pre-professional, we can estimate that Mr. Sweeney was in plate more than 10,000 times attempting to bat or actually hitting with what it is a damaging technique.

His running technique has also major problems that compromise the biological integrity of his legs. In general he is landing with his heels in front of the center of gravity generating a stopping load that is absorbed by his leg’s joints and creating hyper-extension load in his knees with the consequent knee cup compression load. He is also kicking before the landing (see video) what produces extra work at the level of the quadriceps ( muscle that he manifested been fatigued in 2009) and hamstrings.
The running technique utilized for sprinting is incorrect and if we consider that he hits 200 times a year that means at least 200 sprints just in competition from home to first base.
This is just a simplified review of what is possible to observe from a casual video film; a complete biomechanical evaluation might reveal still more information. Therefore no matter how much rehabilitation and medical treatment Mr. Sweeney performs, if he does not change his sport technique, he has a great chance to continue having recurrent and new injuries in the same areas already damaged and weakened over the years. He is 25 years old and there are players that have been active until latte 30’s. This means that he could have at least another 10 years of career if he prevents further injuries. With a contract of 1.4 millions dollars already signed for 2011, he has the potential of earning at least another 14 million dollars more (if we consider only the income from his contract) until the potential end of his professional career. The only way to accomplish this is to involved him in a serious methodological training process with continuous control of the technique, training load and health.