Blog : The NFL's Injury Situation As A Whole

It is no secret that the NFL has a huge problem on it's hands when it comes to player safety and the battlefield of injuries. This applies to not only it's current roster of active players, but transcends into the realm of retired players as well. Recently as we all know, the NFL just settled with the retired folks, but I feel that issue has not been completely laid to rest. This blogpost is really only focusing on the uncanny amount of season ending injuries that have already plagued most every NFL team. Mind you, we are only 1 week into the regular season. The following link shows the current injury situations for all NFL teams. Be mindful of the dates that the player(s) were either denonted as "On I.R." (Injured Reserve) or "Out For Season". I am not taking into account of the "Out Indefinitely" category. Here is the link:
http://chicagosports.sportsdirectinc.../injuries.html
The number of injuries is staggering. More staggering still is the TYPES of injuries we are now becoming more and more accustomed to. Now before I continue I will say that I am sure that in year's past, the number of season ending injuries during the preseason and after Week 1 has occured, but what I am more certain of is that the frequency injuries has undoubtedly increased.
So what injuries am I talking about. I am most concerned about ligament and tendon injuries. Concussions as the media has ridiculously given the most attention to, are and have always been a major factor. Due to their sensitivity and inspired research, concussion injuries have landed more and more active players on I.R. or worse, but that is not the scope of this blogpost, and it really could be one in and of itself.
It seems to me that tendon and ligament injuries are more and more common today, than in years past. Now, with the ever growing social media attention and availability to injury and "insider" knowledge, our awareness of these types of injuries has undoubtedly increased, and I will admit, may be a contributing factor as to why I "feel" there have been more tendon and ligament injuries now, compared to years past. But none-the-less, the number is increasingly growing.
If we just look at our "beloved" Steelers, they have already (without looking) lost 4 players to season ending injuries. 3 of those 4 came in Week 1 against the Tennessee Titans and 3 of the 4 were tendon/ligament injuries. The other was LeVeon Bell, who is out with a Lisfranc Fracture (fracture of the top middle part of the foot). This is just the Steelers. The aforementioned link documents the entire league. Many of the injuries are classified as "undisclosed" but the general description will help you sort out the implicit injury.
So why is this the case? Many may quickly jump to the conclusion that NFL athletes are not preparing themselves in the off-season for the rigors of OTAs and Training Camp...thus leading to Preseason/Week 1 season ending injuries. While on a "Ones'y, Twos'y" basis that may be the case, I actually think that it is the EXACT OPPOSITE reason and one other factor.
I actually think that the number of tendon/ligament injuries is increasing because NFL athletes are actually training too much. Now before all you gym rats and such crucify me, I am NOT saying that rigorous training is bad. NOR am I saying that athletes are not serious in their routines. But I do think it is possible to workout too much. Now, I am not a doctor, but I have heard several doctors speak to this point.
Before I go any further let's review the definition of a tendon and ligament (for those of us, me included, who struggled with biology/anatomy class) . A tendon, is tissue that connects muscle to bone. Think Achilles tendon. A ligament on the other hand is tissue that connects bone to bone. Think the knee (ACL, MCL, etc). The knee also has the Patella Tendon.
Their specific argument is such that, while one can continually workout and increase muscle mass, lower their % of body fat, and become overall "quicker, faster, stronger, the problem is that tendons and ligaments tend to "get left behind". Essentially what doctors are saying is, the human body doesn't "grow" tendons and ligaments like muscles. As a result, the single point of failure is not the muscle, rather it is the connective tissue that fails, and that connective tissue is...exactly what the tendon/ligament is.
Now he is the proverbial "straw the break's the camel's back". Athletes, and NFL ones in particular, are becoming ridiculous bigger, faster, stronger, earlier in life. It wasn't long ago that it was rare to see an OL or DL player barely bigger than 320+lbs. Now, it is pretty much a given. Same thing applies to LBs, TEs, and S positions. These guys are enormous, and too boot, they just don't "weigh a lot". They have very little fat and have very dense muscle mass. This actually becomes a problem, in my opinion, when two or more of these athletes "collide" with one another. These forces DO NOT cancel each other out. That is, just because you are big and I am big and we are equally "strong" and dense etc., doesn't mean it make the impact any less worse. In fact, it makes the problem much more worse, and on an exponential level. Let me break it down this way with an analogy.
Take two identical mini-cooper vehicles, have them drive at 5mph, head-on and collide. There will be an impact, but probably nothing severe. Now take to F-250s driving at 30mph, head-on and collide. The impact will be more severe if not life-threatening, but still survivable. Finally, take two Semi-trucks driving 80mph, head on and collide. The result is fatal. This is the same with NFL athletes. These guys are getting closer to that "semi-truck" mass analogy every passing season, and the results are only going to get more and more devastating. In fact, if you now factor in concussions and the like, the injury landscape looks even more ****ing. This is the sad truth.
Tendons and ligaments are the physical "weak links" with respect to the body. They do not grow and regenerate and strengthen themselves like muscles (and bones) do. Couple that with the mass and force that these guys exert on each other and it becomes crystal clear (to me anyways) why so many NFL athletes are going down with season ending injuries and at a more rapid/frequent rate.
So is there a fix? The last sad truth is really, no. The only real solution would be to "cap" how "big, fast, strong, etc." one person could be, but that would just kill the sport. Not to mention the NFLPA and really the NFL Front Offices would never ratify that into the CBA. And if they did, it would be a mock or something so ridiculous it wouldn't be worth it anyways. So really, to me, the only real end game is to simply grit and bare the fact that any one player could literally be one play away, every play from playing their last play for a season or even a life-time (reference concussion/head injuries).
The NFL has a very delicate and controversial issue on their hands. One that I think threatens the very fabric of the sport. Players are only going to continue to train even more harder and longer inn order to get (or attempt to get) even more bigger, faster, stronger; and this issue is only going to get worse in the process. Unless modern medicine can find a way to grow and regenerate tendons/ligaments in a similar or equal fashion to muscle and bone, I don't see this issue going away. Concussion aren't going anywhere either don't forget (albeit a whole different discussion).
Any and all questions, comments, concerns, re-attacks are more than welcome and appreciated. I didn't bother to spellcheck this document as my iPad is running out of juice and wanted to post this ASAP and generate discussion! :) Feel free to discuss this topic with me via Twitter, my handle is @steeler_salerno, or via the PSF forum, or even both! Thanks everyone for hearing me out! Cheers!