I've been thinking about the rash of shoulder, and upper body soft tissue injuries to defensive players. My thinking is that with the targeting rule where the defender cannot lead with his hat anymore, that rule change now requires a defensive player to lead into the hit with the shoulder. Over time the tears and muscle fatigue wears on until there is a snap and injury. The play causing the injury may appear to be unrelated to avoiding a targeting call, yet the accumulated blows to the body add up.
I expect to see more shoulder and chest injuries in the future.
I'm curious if there are any empirical studies on this theory of mine.
I expect to see more shoulder and chest injuries in the future.
I'm curious if there are any empirical studies on this theory of mine.
