T Nation

Basketball Related Imbalances

Injuries and Rehab
#1

Hey,

I’m 19 years old and been playing ball for pretty much 10 years now without working out or stretching or doing any prehab whatsoever. I feel like due to this one sided stress on my body I’ve gotten a lot of imbalances, which have resulted in a series of injuries like Patellar tendinitis, groin strains, shoulder problems, plantar fascia etc.

What are the root causes of these ? Overdeveloped quads + weak hams and glutes ? I’d love to get some advise on exercises and prehab + stretching I could do to bring my body back in balance.

Right now my left achilles tendon is really tight and inflamed. physiotherapists where I live could always ease the pain, but shortly after the next injury would occur.

#2

Some of the biggest issues with basketball players:

poor vmo strength = patellar tendonitis
tight hip flexors = poor glute strength
tight piriformis
imbalance in strength between the 3 heads of the hamstring
overly tight calfs

Solutions:
Tons and I mean tons of VMO work & deep squatting (ass to heels or it doesn’t count)
Stretch hip flexors and focus on posterior chain/glutes in training
Piriformis - “pigeon pose” stretch
Perform leg curls with toes in, neutral, and out. Make sure there is a balance in strength here.
For calves, this is the best stretching routine I’ve found:

Go in a standing calf raise machine and load it up with heavy weight. Lock your knees and stretch your calves for 15 seconds. Take 5 seconds and add more weight. Stretch for 15s again and add weight. Do a total of 5-7 “reps”.

Repeat for seated calf raise.

Do this daily and you’ll see huge improvements in your ankle flexibility and squatting technique.

#3

Thanks, I appreciate your effort. I will try !