Josh Donaldson. Baseball Player Mechanics Analysis - Oakland A’s


The analysis of some aspects of the technique can help to explain the athlete’s performance, injuries and his/her future possibilities. With the information that we present in this blog I’m not intended to replace a scientifically organized evaluation process, but just to play with the available information.

Mr. Donaldson suffered a left knee sprain in 2010 consistent with the internal compression that he generates at the end of the swing during batting. We can observe in the batting pictures and video how he rotates the left foot externally compressing the internal aspect of the left knee. This action will aggravate the MCL area already damaged.
We can observe also a hyper-extension at the lower back at the end of batting, that might increase the risk of pain in that area.
Initial position
Left foot remains in place while the hip rotates
Left foot remains in place while the hip rotates. Starts hyper-extension of the left knee
Knee hyper-extension, foot external rotation and hyper-extension of the lower back while hip keeps rotation

Knee hyper-extension, more foot external rotation and hyper-extension of the lower back while hip keeps rotation

Knee hyper-extension, foot external rotation and hyper-extension of the lower back while hip keeps rotation

The running technique, with extreme hyper-extension of the knee before landing and the first contact in the ground with the heel, will create new sources of stress for his knees.
In 2012 he suffered a strained right hip. It will continuous being stressed by the constant kicking generated during running in the air phase.

Complete ankle extension, incomplete knee extension
Knee hyper extension. Landing with heel in front of hip
Complete ankle extension, incomplete knee extension
Knee hyper extension. Landing with heel in front of hip

Conclusions: High risk of re-injury at the left knee level and hip flexors. Moderate risk of injury at the left ankle level and lower back.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Stephen Curry, One Year After…Not Better!

Image
  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 available in
Read more

Stephen Curry, Ankle Injuries Analysis

Image
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 movements m
Read more

Jozy Altidore, The Result of a Wrong Training Strategy

Image
Sprinting, high intensity running, weight lifting and fast "everything" is the main focus of the training strategy of most soccer coaches. “ Training endurance slows you down!” insist coaches. Why then do we see such a high percentage of the soccer injuries happening during a sprinting and/or high intensity events? The pictures of Altidore in 2011 look identical to those taken during the June 16, 2014 game against Ghana! The same injury, in the same place, during a similar situation, at almost the same moment in the game. Is this a coincidence? Is it the result of a bad process of rehabilitation process? Or, most probable in my opinion, a combination of the former with a poor running mechanics associated to a non-specific soccer training design.                                                              2014, World Cup. Brazil.                                                                  2011, CONCACAF Gold Cup. US Because we do not kn
Read more