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LESSONS FROM BASKETBALL REFLECTIVE PIECE FEATURE / DR AMY ARUNDALE PHD, PHYSIOTHERAPIST WORKING WITH THE BROOKLYN NETS My background is in football. I grew up playing and was privileged enough to play at University and in the Scottish Women’s Premier League. I coached football prior to becoming a physiotherapist, and combined my love of football with my career, as I carried out a PhD focused on primary and secondary prevention of ACL injuries in footballers. Unexpected opportunities are part of life though and I now work as a physiotherapist and biomechanist in the NBA. As my second NBA season progresses, I can reflect on the aspects of the two sports that I’ve learned and appreciate.
The Science On a weekly basis I receive emails from PubMed notifying me of new scientific articles. On average, the keyword “Football” gets around twenty-five to thirty-five new articles a week whereas the keyword “Basketball” gets about seven, to ten! Having grown up professionally in the world of football, I took the accessibility and quality of research for granted. If I had a clinical question I could ask networking connections from football medicine conferences, researchers including the Football Research Group (the group behind the UEFA Elite Club Injury Study), or dive deeper into the literature to find answers. Even if the research wasn’t in the demographics I was searching for, I could generally find a relating study within football. Basketball does not have the same breadth and depth of resources. Basketball and football are similar with regards to injury epidemiology and in some cases injury mechanisms. Thus, there are many
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occasions where I find now myself looking to the football literature for answers, as it’s the closest evidence base available. I have a much greater appreciation for the research in football. Basketball needs more research on injury mechanisms, risk factors for injury, prevention, and rehabilitation. However, both sports share a common need for more research in women and younger athletes. Resources & Development The NBA draft occurs in late June. Each team approaches the draft slightly differently, however there are aspects that seem common between the majority of teams such as, bringing in potential draftees to watch them play, performing medicals and physical testing, interviews, and other tests/measures. I started working at the Brooklyn Nets (‘Nets’) two days before the 2018 draft process started. I helped take medical histories, perform physical exams, and assess movement. All of the 100+ athletes were different physically, but it surprised me that some
