A Guide for Basketball Injury Prevention

What is the role of a coach? To teach? To develop? To provide a positive, fun experience? What about a safe experience? Is there more to providing a safe environment than making sure the floor is not wet or that no balls roll across the middle of the floor? Is a coach responsible for preventing injuries?

Some programs have athletic trainers who support the coaches and work with players to prevent injuries. Some programs rely on coaches to function as coaches, strength coaches, athletic trainers, bus drivers, etc. Regardless of responsibility, every year, an injury ends numerous teams’ seasons prematurely. Many injuries are freak accidents or just unlucky. However, many injuries are preventable through training and off-season strength and conditioning work. Common ankle or knee injuries occur because basketball places tremendous force on these joints, the tendons and ligaments which stabilize the joints and the muscles which move the joints. The constant landing from jumps, stops and starts and quick changes of direction compromise the muscles, especially when fatigued, which leads to injury.

Pure strength is not the answer; simply bench pressing and squatting will not necessarily alleviate injuries. Nor will common weight training which trains muscles in only one plane. Sport specific training is important, as it prepares the body for movements and forces applied during competition.

In-Season: Dynamic Warm-up
Basketball demands more than a static stretch. A dynamic warm-up includes sport specific range of motion exercises under muscular control. It has two benefits: first, players get loose; and, second, the movements mimic different basketball movements; “they are used to develop fundamental movement skills and therefore are helpful in establishing motor patterns that are going to directly carry over to speed development and jumping ability,” (Chu, Donald. Jumping into Plyometrics).