Injury expert shuts down the most held belief about why the Lions struggle with injuries
The Lions going at it hard in training camp is not the problem
The Detroit Lions are struggling with injuries again for the second year in a row, and you can totally understand why Lions fans either feel some concern or are just mad about the whole situation.
The overwhelming feeling, even beyond those two things, is bewilderment. People want to know why this keeps happening.
It’s just human nature to, at times, create the answers to your own questions. It has to be the training staff, right? Well, it’s not that. The Lions have invested heavily in their training staff and brought in some of the best people in the business. It’s easy to focus on the injury side of it, but look what this group can do with a guy like Amon-Ra St. Brown, who was supposed to be out maybe two weeks with an ankle injury, then played the next game, and did not miss a beat. He can do stuff like this because of great trainers.
The other big thing, and maybe the biggest, is that the Lions are going too hard too early in the year. We know other teams don’t practice the way the Lions do. New Lions say it every summer, and so do the teams that come in for joint practices during training camp.
I wanted to know if there was anything to this idea. I wanted to know if the Lions are rushing themselves into too much live physical contact, which is causing wear and tear. So I spoke with Bone and Joint Institute of Tennessee’s Director of Rehabilitation Services, Dave Kempfert, to get some answers.
In addition to his duties at the Bone and Joint Institute, Kempfert is also a former NFL offensive lineman who played with Lions quarterbacks coach Mark Brunell on the Jaguars.
Here’s what he had to say about this concern:
Lions going all in early in training camp is not necessarily worse for the players’ bodies than the other route
“There’s a pretty viral video of coach (Dan Campbell) up there talking to his players about this, saying, ‘Guys, if I knew a better way to do it, I would do it.’ You’re talking to kind of an old-school guy here, and so I do think that it has changed a lot,” Kempfert said. “We just talked about these tools that the NFL has now, about all these things that are measurable regarding how much volume you’re putting in. Is there a benefit to that?
“Sure. Do I think back in the day was a little overdone, with regard to contact and things, I would agree it probably was, but I still think there’s so much value to putting yourself in those situations. And I always use the term, callous, but there is something to putting in the contact and putting yourself in those situations to get yourself ready for that.
“I think back in the day, we used to do more two-a-day full-contact practices in two-a-days than they do in a whole season now,” Kempfert added. “I’m not saying that was ideal, right? When the season came through, it was almost a break. Sometimes, when things would get going, and because it’s a long season, you have to back off and prepare for a long season.
“If you’re not used to all that bruising, sudden starts/stops, and cutting, taking on collisions, learning how to get up at full speed, it makes a difference in how you perform. There are limits to how often you want to do it, but I think you have to prepare your body for those things. But again, you have to monitor each person and everybody individually. You can’t just assess everyone as a collective group.”
Kempfert went on to say that he would guess some teams don’t make enough contact early, and that this not only has a physical impact but also a mental one. So there you go, the Lions are doing things the right way when they get ramped up early. But as Kempfert notes, every player is different, and the training staff has to be on top of every single situation.
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