Athlete Development Program at Children's Hospital and Research Center Oakland


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Stephen Curry, One Year After…Not Better!

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  Since my article was published (see Stephen Curry, Ankle Injuries Analysis), Mr. Curry had several new ankle injuries. But this time with new elements to be considered: 1) the surgical reparation did not prevent the injury recurrence and 2) the frequency of the injuries increased. As a result of the last injury events, new professionals where consulted. Nike performance evaluators, in-house trainers and other health providers gave opinion and implemented a myriad of strategies to solve Mr. Curry’s problem. However no one yet was able to solve what seems at this point a frustrating route to nowhere. All of them are looking either for causes in the wrong place or providing solutions to wrong causes. Shoes makers recommended new type of shoes; surgeons suggested new surgeries; trainers and coaches implemented strategies to increase strength and flexibility; other alternative medicine professionals offered their resources too. None of them yet stopped to collect the availabl...
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Stephen Curry, Ankle Injuries Analysis

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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...
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Tim Lincecum, lets stop the trend!

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Lets analyze now Mr. Lincecum’s pitching technique. I think that some aspects of his mechanics are his main future career threats. Looking at the frontal plane, before the release of the ball, Mr. Lincecum does a left lateral flexion of the upper body together with the neck. It is at that point, that he is performing his maximum rotational speed. The structure at the cervical and lumbar level probably looks like this: Think about what is happening in the spine structure when the rotation is performed in that particular body position. The vertebrae are acting in angle respect to each other, creating areas of high pressure (fig. above). Also, if the space between the vertebrae is already diminished there is a high risk of lateral facets rubbing each other with its consequent risk of fracture. And Mr. Lincecum has already antecedents of lower back and neck problems. In September of 2009, when he was put in Disabled List because of back spasms and inflammation, he mentioned that he “ha...
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