Did the NFL Lockout Expose the Achilles Heel of Competitive Sports?

Abstract

Over the past few months we have been afforded a unique opportunity to evaluate injury rate data prior to, during, and following the historical aberration created by the recent National Football League (NFL) Lockout. During this period (March 11th to July 25th, 2011), professional football players underwent an uncommon offseason, without the normal access to their team's healthcare providers, strength and conditioning professionals, and high-level coaches. With limited access to these professionals and an absence of the structured preseason preparatory conditioning normally progressed over a 14-week period between May and July, we had a unique window of opportunity to evaluate the effects of an alarmingly rapid transition from the start of training camp, which took place 2 days after the end of the Lockout, to the initiation of preseason competition. A glimpse at early data, limited to Achilles tendon injuries, is cause for concern due to an unprecedented number of Achilles tendon ruptures in training camp and the beginning of preseason. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther 2011;41(10):702–705. doi:10.2519/jospt.2011.0107

Season Suspension and Summer Extension: Unique Opportunity for Professional Team-Sport Athletes and Support Staff During and Following the COVID-19 Crisis

“…Although our ability to extrapolate research findings from similar historic periods of "summer extension" on the health and performance of professional team-sport athletes is questionable given the exceptionality of the current pandemic, it is wellknown that the restriction to sport-specific stimuli due to the disruption or suspension of the competition calendar can evoke serious complications (Myer et al, 2011;Sarto et al, 2020). For instance, the National football League players had limited access to facilities and training resources because of a competition lockout from 11 March 2011 to 25 July 2011, which conjured a significantly higher rate of Achilles tendon injuries accrued over the first period of the training camp and the subsequent season (Myer et al, 2011;Sarto et al, 2020). In light of this concern and potential harm to athletes, a Google Forms survey was distributed to African elite and semi-elite athletes (692 respondents) from 15 sports (last week of April 2020) at level 5 of the lockdown period (Pillay et al, 2020).…”

Elite Athletes and COVID-19 Lockdown: Future Health Concerns for an Entire Sector

“…During this time professional football players underwent an uncommon offseason, without the normal access to their team's healthcare providers, strength and conditioning professionals, and highlevel coaches. The limited access to these professionals and an absence of the structured preseason preparatory conditioning it was the cause of an unprecedented number of Achilles tendon ruptures in training camp and the beginning of preseason [10]. Unfortunately, these injuries likely represent career-altering and often career-ending events for professional athletes, as one third of the players who sustain an Achilles tendon rupture in the NFL never return back to competition.…”

Sports activities during any pandemic lockdown

“…Assuming a reduction in strength, flexibility, endurance, proprioceptive, and neuromuscular control, there is a greater risk of injury faced by athletes when transitioning from an unprecedented lockdown to high-level sports-specific practice. Learning from the National Football League (NFL) lockout in 2011 [15], following the premature transition from the end of lockout to the beginning of competitive fixtures, there was an unprecedented number of Achilles tendon ruptures during the training camp and preseason. Two-thirds of the players who ruptured their Achilles tendon returned to play in the NFL after Achilles tendon repair and around 11 months of rehabilitation, while the rest never went back to competition.…”