Are NFL players like Jadeveon Clowney vulnerable to injury?
![Houston Texans linebacker Jadeveon Clowney only played in four games this season due to injuries.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/www.usatoday.com/gcdn/-mm-/a1e015a13f9794b7a04951154d916e9f81ee21c7/c=0-119-4043-2403/local/-/media/2014/12/16/USATODAY/USATODAY/635543558111593094-cxx-clowney-17.jpg?width=660&height=373&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp)
The Houston Texans invested the No. 1 overall pick of the 2014 NFL draft on linebacker Jadeveon Clowney, but the team didn't get a first-round type performance out of the former South Carolina standout.
Clowney's first year in the NFL included five tackles in four games, a sports hernia surgery in June followed by two surgeries on his right knee. He landed on season-ending injured reserve on Dec. 10 due to his knee injury.
Add him to the list of promising stars labeled as injury prone. Washington Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III, the No. 2 pick in 2012 whose first season ended with anterior cruciate ligament surgery, missed six games earlier this season with a dislocated ankle. St. Louis Rams quarterback Sam Bradford, the No. 1 pick in 2010, was sidelined in the preseason with his second ACL tear in two seasons.
There is exploration underway on why injuries happen to some athletes more than others. Is there an injury-prone personality? How about a physical type?
Researchers have identified physical characteristics that make some athletes more vulnerable than others, particularly the tear of an ACL. There is research showing links to mental processes, such as reaction time.
The goal is to identify those at higher risk, develop strategies to offset that and keep them playing.
"I think there are injury prone athletes, based on lots of different criteria," said Timothy Hewett, director of sports research at Ohio State University Sports Medicine. "If you look at (studies going forward with large groups of athletes) I do think you can put together a profile of the type of the athlete who is at higher risk of future injury."
In his final season at South Carolina, Clowney missed two games with bone spurs in his foot and a muscle strain in his rib area. After he was drafted by the Texans, he had sports hernia surgery, to correct an ailment he said he played through during his last season at South Carolina.
After playing in Houston's opener, Clowney had surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his right knee, the Texans said. He returned in Week 8 and played in Weeks 11-12. Last week, the team said he had microfracture surgery on his right knee, and he should be able to return in nine months.
Texans linebacker Brian Cushing said he had counseled Clowney.
"We've talked a good amount," Cushing said. "Mostly just telling him to keep his head up and try and stay as upbeat as he possibly can because you can get down on yourself, especially early in your career when you're eager to prove yourself.''
Shaking the title
Griffin, who will start Saturday against the Philadelphia Eagles after being benched for poor performance, was asked Tuesday about being called injury prone.
"I don't react at all," Griffin said. "It's just not true."
Bad luck?
"I don't know. Everything happens for a reason. That's just the way I look at it, and God always has a plan," Griffin said.
Griffin and Bradford suffered ACL tears in the same knees that they'd previously had ACL repairs. Arizona Cardinals quarterback Carson Palmer was sidelined by an ACL tear in November in the same knee he had reconstructed in 2006.
Hewett said Ohio State research has shown that among athletes who suffer an ACL tear, 20-30 percent will tear an ACL again, in the same knee or the other.
That doesn't mean they can say a player will tear an ACL again.
"But we are getting to the point where we can develop a profile and say this individual is going to have about this percentage chance of having an injury," Hewett said.
Hewett said Ohio State has focused on risk factors that are "modifiable" β through physical training. One such factor is over-reliance on the big muscle group in the front of the thigh (the quadriceps) to control the knee during cutting and landing.
"You actually put increased strain on the ACL," said Hewett, who said "quadriceps dominant" athletes are at greater risk than others.
Ohio State also is looking at is genetics. Hewett said one family group under study has 43 individuals and that 13 have had ACL injuries.
"We have one group that's a set of twin sisters, both of which have had ACL injuries. One's had two," Hewett said. "And then their father is a triple and all three triplets have had two ACL injuries. β¦ There are genetic components here."
Focus on the brain
University of Delaware researcher Charles Swanik has found a higher rate of ACL injuries in athletes who scored "a little lower" in tests of brain functions such as reaction time and processing speed.
"In the bigger picture, I think that these non-contact ACL injuries are a model for a lot of other injuries and accidents that happen to people, especially kids. In my belief, they're largely errors in judgment or coordination,'' said Swanik, associate professor of kinesiology and applied physiology.
"When you're moving very fast and there's a lot of forces involved, if you make a small error then all of the loads that would be absorbed by the muscles go into the ligaments or bones."
Could that make athletes, like Clowney and Griffin, injury prone?
"Sure," Swanik said. " β¦ You could be physically an incredible specimen β¦ but the neuroscience that controls all the muscle physiology and the decisions that go into it are really what cause that kind of thing.
"We're really talking about a tenth of a second or hundredths of a second where you don't predict correctly what's going to happen next or you're distracted."
Britton Brewer, a psychology professor at Springfield College in Massachusetts also sees a psychological link.
"Where is their attention directed? What are they thinking about? All of that is influenced by psychological factors like how much stress the person is under," Brewer said. "Does it result in tighter muscles? Does it result in the person being distracted? Does it result in their field of vision being narrowed?''
After missing six games early with an ankle dislocation, Griffin started three games before being benched for poor performance. He'll start Saturday because replacement Colt McCoy aggravated a neck injury.
Does Redskins coach Jay Gruden view Griffin as injury prone?
"He's had injuries and durability is a very important trait at the position," Gruden said. "β¦ Unfortunately, he's had a couple of fluke injuries, and that's an issue. So we've got to do the best we can to keep him upright.
"Obviously, there's some worries there that he might get injured. But I think as a play-caller, utilizing Robert to the best of our abilities, we can't worry about the 'injury prone' factor."
In relief last week, Griffin did some productive running. If Griffin relies on running, is he taking a risk? Is a risk taker more injury prone?
"That's one of the personality factors that's been examined. It's hit and miss," said Brewer.
"It can go both ways. If, for example β¦ RGIII were to play all out, that's what some would say was why he got injured at the end of his first year running with the ball. β¦ It applies to groups of people better than any single individual. β¦ There's a degree of luck involved and bad luck."
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Follow Gary Mihoces on Twitter @ByGaryMihoces