Did Aaron Rodgers do enough "stretching?"
This is not medical advice.
I’ve already heard this at least once by some loud and obnoxious Boston (redundant?) sports newscasters. Firstly, there are some things we shouldn’t second guess or split hairs on. Root against him as a player if you want, but he’s a professional future Hall of Fame player, and has access to the best trainers in the world. I also heard that Aaron was not dedicated, or a good athlete. Please.
There is a current debate about Aaron Rodgers’ injury. Was it preventable? Probably not.
If you watch the video, he has his body weight balanced on one foot, moving forward, so at least 3x his bodyweight in force, plus the bodyweight force of the rusher, all onto a tendon half an inch wide. It’s amazing we can do this in the first place.
Here’s the curious part. Hamstrings are simultaneously the most stretched and injured muscles. Guess the close second? Calf and Achilles.
“Stretching” has been the prevailing narrative for injury prevention for decades. Here is what has been proven in studies;
Passive stretching decreases sprint performance, so likely strength/power.
Passive stretching does not decrease risk of injury, active warm ups do.
Is there a correlation between the fact that the Achilles is simultaneously one of the most stretched and injured tendons?
Ancedotaly, I have seen many Achilles ruptures in therapy over the years. They are horrible injuries, that require surgery, and take 6-12 months to recuperate from.
All of these injuries happened to a generation that said, “you must stretch before working out!” No one ever said, “hey, you should strengthen your calf muscles before working out.”
There is a 2 minute video of active warms ups in this article.
Even in therapy in the 90’s, when someone was recovering from an Achilles strain, I am going to guess all these things were done first; ultrasound, heat, massage, electrical stimulation, taping, and stretching.
Long live strengthening…