Pistons’ Ankle Injuries. Were Shoes’ Fault?
Arnie Kander, the team’s strength and conditioning coach for 18seasons, has never seen as many ankle, knee and groin injuries as hehas this season.
It started opening night when Richard Hamilton suffered a sprainedankle late at Memphis, and the problem just recently slowed down.
At one point it seemed as if every Pistons guard had an ankle sprain. So Kander did some investigating and has banned the shoes thatHamilton, Ben Gordon and Will Bynum had been wearing early in theseason.
“I’m not going to name the brand of shoe it was, but it has beenbanned from our locker room and the guys aren’t allowed to wear it,” Kander said. “Theseshoes had taken most of the support out of the sides and it was alighter shoe. Most basketball shoes weigh between 1.4 and 1.7 pounds.”
“These shoes were weighing 0.8 pounds, which was way too lightas far as side support. Since we’ve banned the shoe, knock on wood, wehaven’t had any ankle sprains. Hopefully, the good Lord willing, wewon’t have any more and we can finish the season healthy and see whatthese guys can really do.
“We’ve had a couple of bumps and bruises, but nothing like we had the first part of the season.
via Detroit Free-Press
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