re: Zion's Strength/Stability and cause of injury

Posted on 10/19/19 at 2:56 pm to gotiger

Posted by CelticDog

Member since Apr 2015

42867 posts

Posted on 10/19/19 at 2:56 pm to gotiger

quote:
Lets start here. Zion is a 19 year old boy. Yes, he is built like a truck, he is supremely athletic, and he is a man on the court with the blend of size, speed, agility, and power/explosiveness. Despite all of that, his body is very underdeveloped regarding the basics.

As a physical therapist, we evaluate individuals as a whole. We don't see a knee injury and simply look at the knee. There is a kinetic chain from the core down to the ankles that can create a weak link and put a person at risk for injury at the site of weakness or elsewhere.

In Zions case, he has had knee issues both left and right over the last 8 months. That's not a coincidence. I bet if you tested the strength of his Quadriceps and Hamstrings, they are probably strong as an Oxe. So if the Quadriceps and Hamstrings are strong and his athleticism is supreme, then why recurrent injuries at the knee. And yes, I realize he busted a shoe that led to his first knee injury. But once an injury occurs everything around it can be magnified if not corrected.

I watched him the other night warming up with one of the trainers and it was very apparent he lacks hip strength, stability, and has core weakness that is contributing to increased stresses at the knee. (lets not even talk about the 285 lb frame) He couldn't perform simple movement patterns focusing on those things and motor control. He could jump out of the gym, but couldn't perform the simplest of exercises without losing his balance and falling that the trainers demonstrated very simply.

With all that being said, I truly believe that Zions minutes and games should be limited this year. I want to see him play 48 minutes just like the rest of us, but it won't be good for him long term. He needs an entire offseason under his belt with Aaron Nelson or whoever he chooses in order to build basic hip/core strength, LE stability, and improve his motor control to be more efficient and have better mechanics to reduce injury going forward. Lastly, he probably needs to lose about 20lbs, which most of us know has been discussed at nauseam.