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DRIVES TO THE BASKET AND KNEE INJURIES IN NBA PLAYERS

Abstract

A. Malik; B. Cervoni; C. McMullen

University of Washington, Seattle, WA

Knee injuries are relatively common in basketball players and can lead to chronic pain and biomechanical dysfunction if not appropriately rehabilitated. PURPOSE: To determine if there is an association between the average number of times NBA players drive to the basket and rates of knee injury during the most recent NBA seasons. METHODS: The previous five NBA seasons (excluding the suspended 2019-2020 NBA season during the COVID-19 pandemic) were analyzed in this study. This includes the 2015-2016, 2016-2017, 2017-2018, 2018-2019, 2020-2021 NBA seasons. NBA statistics were obtained from the Official NBA Statistics online database, and injury reports were obtained from the Pro Sports Transactions online database. Injuries with the keyword “knee” occurring two days before the start of the NBA season until two days after the conclusion of the NBA Playoffs were included in this study. A linear mixed effects model was used to assess the association between the average number of drives per game and the occurrence of a knee injury while adjusting for the average number of minutes played per game and season. Furthermore, a second linear mixed effects model was used to see if the association between frequency of drives and knee injuries varied across seasons. RESULTS: There was no association between the average number of drives to the basket and the rates of knee injuries in NBA players during past five NBA seasons (excluding the 2019-2020 NBA season). For players differing in an average of 5 drives per game, the risk of knee injury was 1% higher among those who drove more frequently, however this finding was not statistically significant (CI, -0.003 to 0.007; p-value=0.44). There was also insufficient evidence to conclude that association between frequency of drives and knee injuries varied by season (p-value=0.51). CONCLUSION: Statistics on style of play and occurrence of knee injuries can provide a better understanding of biomechanical factors contributing to injuries, and ultimately guide strength and conditioning efforts for injury prevention. Future research can investigate if there is an association between varying styles of play, such as “catch and shoot” players, and knee injuries in NBA athletes.

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