Spandrel Analytics

We have an expression in Spanish that says “More dangerous than a monkey with a knife!” (“Mas peligroso que mono con navaja!”). Basically, give a tool to somebody that does not know how to use it and the consequences can be disastrous. Sports shoes are tools that have a specific purpose according to each sport. Its indiscriminate utilization can produce problems with severe consequences. In the epidemiology of sports, and youth sports in particular, we observe with consternation that the injuries are in the raise and getting more severe. This is happening even when the science and technology sectors are putting huge amount of effort and money in trying to prevent it. Among all the injuries, the torn ACL is one of the  most concerning today.  When this injury happens, the result is a devastated athlete that frequently has to give up his/her athletic aspirations. Also it generates a huge media attention accompanied with a succession of complains from the sports management, coa...

Mr. Stephen Curry had surgery few days ago in his right ankle to “repair instability caused by recurrent sprains”. Mr. Curry had several ankle injuries since February 2009 when he first  seriously  sprained his left one. In April 2010 he reported in his web page that he was feeling stiffness and soreness in the same ankle and that progressively its pain was worsen. By August 2010 he sprained it again. Two month later, in October 2010, he sprained his right ankle. Successive episodes happened since then with five right ankle sprains reported to the media and “some minor tweaks here and there”, until May 2011 when he decided to have surgery. Dr. Anderson, the surgeon, reported that he decided to make the procedure to “repair” the instability in his right ankle caused by the recurrent sprains that Mr. Curry suffered. But even though it is possible that after successive injuries the ankle became unstable, we can estimate that the main sources of instability are related to his mo...