UConn’s injury woes continue in the WNBA | The Boneyard

UConn’s injury woes continue in the WNBA

Carnac

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I wonder if this is a lingering injury that Liv had or sustained during the tournament? Speaking from a "mature" person's prospective.......Liv is too young to have hip problems. :cool: She's not even 25 yet. Remember what you felt like when you were 25? ;)

What a forgetful year this has been for our team as far as injuries go. I believe (help me out if I'm wrong) only Edwards and Westbrook were the only two players to play in every game this year. It's possible either or both of them were nicked up but managed to play through it.
 
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I wonder if this is a lingering injury that Liv had or sustained during the tournament? Speaking from a "mature" person's prospective.......Liv is too young to have hip problems. :cool: She's not even 25 yet. Remember what you felt like when you were 25? ;) What a forgetful year this has been for our team as far as injuries go. I believe (help me out if I'm wrong) only Edwards and Westbrook were the only two players to play in every game this year. It's possible either or both of them were nicked up but managed to play through it.
I was thinking along the same line, possible effects of her injury during the latter part of the season.
 

eebmg

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Geez. I thought this was reporting a new injury.
 

RockyMTblue2

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I wonder if this is a lingering injury that Liv had or sustained during the tournament? Speaking from a "mature" person's prospective.......Liv is too young to have hip problems. :cool: She's not even 25 yet. Remember what you felt like when you were 25? ;)

What a forgetful year this has been for our team as far as injuries go. I believe (help me out if I'm wrong) only Edwards and Westbrook were the only two players to play in every game this year. It's possible either or both of them were nicked up but managed to play through it.
Talking about too young for a hip malady, Caroline Ducharme came out of high school needing surgery. How kids end up playing a season with such problems is beyond me.
 

oldude

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Liv’s injury points to the fundamental problem with the WNBA. She just wrapped up a really tough regular season, playing banged up for much of the season, right through the national championship game. A couple weeks later, Liv is working her butt off to make the LA Sparks. Once the WNBA season ends, most players head overseas for a chance to earn some real money in order to augment their limited salary in the W, pushing their bodies through year round play.

MBB players out of college have 6 months to rest, recuperate and get ready for the NBA season. If they make a team, they are guaranteed just under $1 million per year. I get that the economics of WBB in this country limit the opportunities for WBB players. But when you consider just how physically demanding it is for the handful of college players that earn one of the 144 precious jobs in the W each year, it’s amazing that any of them make it through the season healthy.
 

Bigboote

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:cool: She's not even 25 yet. Remember what you felt like when you were 25? ;)
I was prepared for old age because my body started falling apart at the age of 19. :oops:

Hip can mean many things. As Rocky said, Caroline needed hip surgery; Saylor had surgery for one hip labrum early in high school and the other after her (Maryland high-school player of the year) junior season. Saniya Chong has an IT band issue her senior, another part of the hip.

Gabby Williams had a persistent hip flexor issue, I think her senior year. I had the same thing at the same time. I kept saying to my wife, "I wonder what the hip flexor is?" Finally she looked it up, and asked, "Does that look familiar?" This may be what's ailing Olivia. The hip flexor is on the inside part of the thigh. I'd been thinking it was a groin issue (what they said Olivia had in the Final Four), but no groin stretches or anything helped. We found some stretches specific to hip flexors, and I was mostly pain-free within a few days. It still comes back, was especially bad last night after a half marathon.
 

Gus Mahler

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I was prepared for old age because my body started falling apart at the age of 19. :oops:

Hip can mean many things. As Rocky said, Caroline needed hip surgery; Saylor had surgery for one hip labrum early in high school and the other after her (Maryland high-school player of the year) junior season. Saniya Chong has an IT band issue her senior, another part of the hip.

Gabby Williams had a persistent hip flexor issue, I think her senior year. I had the same thing at the same time. I kept saying to my wife, "I wonder what the hip flexor is?" Finally she looked it up, and asked, "Does that look familiar?" This may be what's ailing Olivia. The hip flexor is on the inside part of the thigh. I'd been thinking it was a groin issue (what they said Olivia had in the Final Four), but no groin stretches or anything helped. We found some stretches specific to hip flexors, and I was mostly pain-free within a few days. It still comes back, was especially bad last night after a half marathon.
Friendly edit: It was her junior year. I think it kept her from being a rotation player that year.
 
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As a sprint coach I found that hip flexor injuries were one of the most common problems (along with shin splints). Makes it very hard to drive the knee upwards and pull the leg back toward the front. Very painful and lingering.
 
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IMO the seemingly alarming increase in sports injuries is due to them being pushed so hard when they are kids. Today most kids only play 1 sport and they play that sport all year round. That puts a lot of strain on a subset of muscles, ligaments, tendons, etc. whereas when I was a kid, we played at least 3 sports during the year getting a more rounded yearly "workout". In my small part of the world, my son has baseball friends who have had Tommy John surgery when they were 12-18 years old. You would think that would raise a red flag that something is wrong. It doesn't. Parents are living their dream through their kids and looking for the "golden ticket". Very few ever find it.
 
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IMO the seemingly alarming increase in sports injuries is due to them being pushed so hard when they are kids. Today most kids only play 1 sport and they play that sport all year round. That puts a lot of strain on a subset of muscles, ligaments, tendons, etc. whereas when I was a kid, we played at least 3 sports during the year getting a more rounded yearly "workout". In my small part of the world, my son has baseball friends who have had Tommy John surgery when they were 12-18 years old. You would think that would raise a red flag that something is wrong. It doesn't. Parents are living their dream through their kids and looking for the "golden ticket". Very few ever find it.
Specialization is definitely one part of the issue. Affordability is another challenge as the costs for youth sports isn't the same as when we were these athletes age. I couldn't afford much beyond basketball even though my daughter excelled at track and field, volleyball and flag football. Would have loved to have her in multiple sports but there's only so much my budget could manage.
 
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IMO the seemingly alarming increase in sports injuries is due to them being pushed so hard when they are kids. Today most kids only play 1 sport and they play that sport all year round. That puts a lot of strain on a subset of muscles, ligaments, tendons, etc. whereas when I was a kid, we played at least 3 sports during the year getting a more rounded yearly "workout". In my small part of the world, my son has baseball friends who have had Tommy John surgery when they were 12-18 years old. You would think that would raise a red flag that something is wrong. It doesn't. Parents are living their dream through their kids and looking for the "golden ticket". Very few ever find it.
one of the best posts I've seen on this forum, if only I could give 1000 likes.
 
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As a sprint coach I found that hip flexor injuries were one of the most common problems (along with shin splints). Makes it very hard to drive the knee upwards and pull the leg back toward the front. Very painful and lingering.

As a distance runner as a teenager, shin splints really hurt! Wouldn't wish that on anyone!
 
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Seems as though the WNBA's action in suspending KLS for half a season is a self-defeating tactic. I'm guessing that she makes vastly more money playing in Europe. And even with the increased salaries for the W, they're nowhere near what good players can make overseas. The partial "suspension" seems like a gratuitous slap at a great player, and not one that a low-paying league should be indulging in.
 
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IMO the seemingly alarming increase in sports injuries is due to them being pushed so hard when they are kids. Today most kids only play 1 sport and they play that sport all year round. That puts a lot of strain on a subset of muscles, ligaments, tendons, etc. whereas when I was a kid, we played at least 3 sports during the year getting a more rounded yearly "workout". In my small part of the world, my son has baseball friends who have had Tommy John surgery when they were 12-18 years old. You would think that would raise a red flag that something is wrong. It doesn't. Parents are living their dream through their kids and looking for the "golden ticket". Very few ever find it.

“There are literally Tommy John surgeries that aren’t really needed,” says Guerry Baldwin, president of East Cobb Baseball in suburban Atlanta. Some minor-league players who have other elbow problems go ahead and have the procedure, believing they’ll throw harder afterward.

"In a 2012 survey of coaches, parents, and high school or college ballplayers, Columbia University researchers found roughly a third of parents and coaches, half of college players, and a quarter of high-school players thought athletes should get the surgery, whether or not they had an elbow injury, “to enhance performance.”

[Some] Parents are living their dream through their kids and looking for the "golden ticket".
 
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“There are literally Tommy John surgeries that aren’t really needed,” says Guerry Baldwin, president of East Cobb Baseball in suburban Atlanta. Some minor-league players who have other elbow problems go ahead and have the procedure, believing they’ll throw harder afterward.

"In a 2012 survey of coaches, parents, and high school or college ballplayers, Columbia University researchers found roughly a third of parents and coaches, half of college players, and a quarter of high-school players thought athletes should get the surgery, whether or not they had an elbow injury, “to enhance performance.”

[Some] Parents are living their dream through their kids and looking for the "golden ticket".
This has me cringing. Also, how much does this surgery cost and does American health insurance cover this? I doubt this would be covered under our healthcare system in Canada. If a family could get it covered here under their private insurance, I would be very surprised.
 

Bigboote

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One of the reasons I watch almost no baseball any more is that there's such stress put on NOT hitting the ball where a play can be made on it. The relevance to the previous posts is that pitchers are being taught earlier and earlier to throw hard and to throw pitches that put stress on the elbow. It seems at every level that pitchers are being taught to strike out hitters. Gone are the pitchers in the vein of Greg Maddux, Jim Palmer, and Juan Marichal who threw pretty hard but relied on finesse and location to get hitters to hit the ball where the defense wanted it.

On the offensive side, there's inordinate stress put on home runs, walks, and getting pitch counts up. There are hitters who put the ball in play in fewer than half their plate appearances now. That was unheard of 30 or so years ago.
 
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Talking about too young for a hip malady, Caroline Ducharme came out of high school needing surgery. How kids end up playing a season with such problems is beyond me.
I was a wrestler and now a 63 year old carpenter. You deal with pain!
 

RockyMTblue2

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I was a wrestler and now a 63 year old carpenter. You deal with pain!
Yeah, I get that and have dealt with a pretty fair amount of it over the decades. However, a teenage athlete with a hip issue in all likelihood has a joint issue beyond pain (the hip bone's connected to the leg bone). Then there is showing up for Geno's summer "camp" before the real deal in the fall. You sound like one of my old high school coaches: "Run it off." I hope your pain is tolerable.
 
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I was prepared for old age because my body started falling apart at the age of 19. :oops:

Hip can mean many things. As Rocky said, Caroline needed hip surgery; Saylor had surgery for one hip labrum early in high school and the other after her (Maryland high-school player of the year) junior season. Saniya Chong has an IT band issue her senior, another part of the hip.

Gabby Williams had a persistent hip flexor issue, I think her senior year. I had the same thing at the same time. I kept saying to my wife, "I wonder what the hip flexor is?" Finally she looked it up, and asked, "Does that look familiar?" This may be what's ailing Olivia. The hip flexor is on the inside part of the thigh. I'd been thinking it was a groin issue (what they said Olivia had in the Final Four), but no groin stretches or anything helped. We found some stretches specific to hip flexors, and I was mostly pain-free within a few days. It still comes back, was especially bad last night after a half marathon.
The moral of this story is don’t run half marathons. ;^)
 
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One of the reasons I watch almost no baseball any more is that there's such stress put on NOT hitting the ball where a play can be made on it. The relevance to the previous posts is that pitchers are being taught earlier and earlier to throw hard and to throw pitches that put stress on the elbow. It seems at every level that pitchers are being taught to strike out hitters. Gone are the pitchers in the vein of Greg Maddux, Jim Palmer, and Juan Marichal who threw pretty hard but relied on finesse and location to get hitters to hit the ball where the defense wanted it.

On the offensive side, there's inordinate stress put on home runs, walks, and getting pitch counts up. There are hitters who put the ball in play in fewer than half their plate appearances now. That was unheard of 30 or so years ago.
Even Randy Jones in his prime needed elbow surgery. Mid 70s for SD Padres, threw almost nothing but sinkers. Games almost always done under 2 hours with 24 ground balls outs. He was magic for 2 years.
 

UHF

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I wonder if this is a lingering injury that Liv had or sustained during the tournament? Speaking from a "mature" person's prospective.......Liv is too young to have hip problems. :cool: She's not even 25 yet. Remember what you felt like when you were 25? ;)

What a forgetful year this has been for our team as far as injuries go. I believe (help me out if I'm wrong) only Edwards and Westbrook were the only two players to play in every game this year. It's possible either or both of them were nicked up but managed to play through it.

Former non-athlete coworker had double hip replacement surgery at age 29. Should have had it 2 years earlier. Genetics?
 

Carnac

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Former non-athlete coworker had double hip replacement surgery at age 29. Should have had it 2 years earlier. Genetics?
Yes, genetics. Of course I was being facetious. Liv is only 21 (born Aug 17, 2000) I'm over 3 times her age. Just because I don't have hip problems does not mean she can't. I do have other physical ailments associated with old age. She can have hip ailments even if she weren't an athlete. Been there done that. As an athlete that competes hard for as long as she has, it very easy to "tweak" something that can hurt for a long time afterwards. You don't have to be an "octogenarian" to have hip problems. :) I'm betting this is NOT a new injury. She brought it with her from school. :(

I remain a HUGE fan and booster of Olivia. I plan to attend several Sparks home games this season. We've got two UConn alums (Katie Lou Samuelson & Olivia) on the roster. :D
 
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UcMiami

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I think one of the issues specific to basketball is the premium placed on height - almost all successful basketball players are at the top 5% of their gender's bell curve and that means that a lot of them had at least one period of explosive growth (e.g. 4 inches in 6 months.) While that is great for their sport, it also usually means that the joints between long bones didn't develop at the same rate. Knees, hips, and ankles can suffer from that growth imbalance.

Add in the single sport focus that may over-develop certain muscles while also over-stressing certain joints as kids grow is not a great recipe. It improves the talent development in the single sport while probably decreasing the long term durability of that talent.

It is also true that a lot of multi-sport athletes have had serious injuries - Caroline Doty being an example where her initial knee injury was in her second sport. Cross training isn't really a panacea.
 

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