Professional Documents
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JUMP INJURIES
As a jumper you are under HIGH RISK OF INJURY.
Knee tears ACl and Meniscus tears are common.
The knee can tear jumping off two feet
Julian Wright jumping injury
The knee can tear jumping off one foot
Most commonly the knee tears on landing
The knee can tear landing on one foot
Tony Allen tears ACL landing
Or the knee can tear landing on two feet
Jonathan Clark ACL and Meniscus Tear Landing
When the knee
CAVES INWARD UNDER HIGH FORCE
there is a high risk of injur
y.
Poor kid wasn’t prepared for the landing
With great bounce comes great responsibility.
“How to Tear an Acl and Meniscus”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfA_WSBpitU
Ankle sprains are also common on landing.
You can fall and break your wrist or arm.
Andrew Bogut breaks arm landing
Even worse you can fall and break your back.
Evan Turner breaks his back landing
Are these injuries preventable??
Yes!!!!!
Preventing Jump Injuries
“
The findings of the study indicate that players with a history ofknee injuries had
biomechanically compromised landing techniques
when compared with
uninjured players matched for gender, age and club”
Knee movement patterns of injured and uninjured adolescent basketball players when landing
from a jump: A casecontrol study
http://www.biomedcentral.com/14712474/7/22
‘
horizontal landing poses the greatest threat for developing patellar tendinopathy. A stiff
movement pattern with a small posttouchdown range of motion and short landing time
is associated with the onset of patellar tendinopathy. Accordingly, employing a flexible
landing pattern seems to be an expedient strategy for reducing the risk for (re)
developing patellar tendinopathy. Together, these findings indicate that improving kinetic
chain functioning, performing eccentric exercises and changing landing patterns are
potential tools for preventive and/or therapeutic purposes.’
Jumper's knee or lander's knee? A systematic review of the relation between jump
biomechanics and patellar tendinopathy.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24577862
The goal of this resource is to save you from getting injured dunking.
you to reach your full full jumping potential
In order for avoid and
you must
prevent injury
at all cost.
There is strong evidence that arthritis is linked with repetitive impacts. Dunking is a repetitive
impact sport. A goal of this program is to help dunkers minimize their dunk impacts.
http://www.arthritistoday.org/news/exerciseforoa.php
Arthritis is joint degeneration. Starts with joint pain and leads to loss of joint use and mobililty..
paralysis. It’s something we are susceptible to as athletes and dunkers, but it’s something we
can minimize and avoid.
Our motivation is not out of fear of pain and injury but of love of jumping and flight. Let’s
experience dunking as long as possible extend our dunk careers! Through studying our
movements and landings.
Landing Technique and Strategy
Low Point Drops
Hang Finishing
4 Limb Backslide
4 Limb “Cat Landings”
Front and Back Rolls
Run Through Landings
Always Have a Landing Strategy!
Footsteps = Impact
Landing Technique
and Strategy
“
The findings of the study indicate that players with a history of
knee injuries had
biomechanically compromised landing techniques when compared with uninjured players
matched for gender, age and club”
Knee movement patterns of injured and uninjured adolescent basketball players when landing
from a jump: A casecontrol study
http://www.biomedcentral.com/14712474/7/22
If you want to prevent dunk related injuries you need to study landing techniques.
The goal of this section is to help you learn various landing techniques and when to use them
develop your own landing strategy
in order for you to .
4 Limb Slide Landings
Four limb backslide technique is a way to spread initial impact force over 4 contact points and
continue into backslide which diffuses the landing force by friction with the ground.
Backslide is a preferred landing style of many NBA veterans, including Tim Duncan, Dwyane
Wade, and Jamal Crawford. It has become a fundamental movement in the NBA used by most
players on most teams.
Backslide is a great landing from physics perspective. We start with a lower body squat to lower
to the ground combined with an upper body dip to lower to the ground. It’s possible to absorb a
lot of force into the musculature this way.
The 4 limb landing transitions into a vertical slide. Hardwood has special properties it is sticky
with basketball shoes but very low friction with cloth, making backslides possible. Whatever
remaining momentum can be diverted into vertical slide momentum.
Great way to land.
Here we look at D Wade’s backslides.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=db08eeM0BH4&feature=youtu.be
Here we look at Dunker Golden Child’s backslide
Golden Child
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXeO6JEiifQ
You should never, ever sprain your ankle landing from a jump shot EVER
. This kind of
injury is 100% avoidable.
Don’t let this happen to you
The simple solution to this is to
land contested shots with 4 limbs, preferably on your back.
Jamal Crawford is very good at this. Crawford is king of the And 1 3 in the NBA and he never
sprains his ankle, even when defenders slide under him.
Jamal Crawford 4 limb landing technique
A 4 limb landing spreads impact force across 4 limbs. Twice as many limbs, twice as much
muscle involvement. You can come down on a foot and still have 3 other points of solid ground
contact.
Stephen Curry 4 limb landing technique
Strategy
use 4 limb backslides
to minimize landing impact
use 4 limb backslides
prevent ankle sprains
4 Limb “Cat Landings”
Cats are amazing jumpers and landers and they have a preferred 4 limb front landing style.
Cat 4 limb landings
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayLd4d972w
While human bodies are different from cats, we learn that 4 limbs are better than 2. Landing
force is spread over 4 limbs instead of 2. Landing pressure is spread over a greater muscle area
Think of a front landing as something like a calf raise / lower + a push up. Not the best, but it is
an option.
4 limb landing is less pressure than 2 limb land
Potential downsides of this landing style are knee / achilles pressure, as well as short horizontal
follow through.
This 4 limb front landing style combos nicely into a front roll, seen in the next section.
Strategy
use 4 limb cat landing
to minimize impact on forward facing landings
Front and back rolls
Parkour style front and back rolls are a nice option occasionally used by dunkers as well.
Because of the properties of hardwood slides are good but rolls are viable as well.
Rolls are ideal for high friction surfaces, such as concrete or asphalt.
Nathaniel Mills Front Roll Landing
http://instagram.com/p/ynDcd3iEf7/?modal=true
For back rolls it is important to pick a shoulder to roll over to avoid putting pressure on the neck /
spine
Jordan Kilganon Back Shoulder Roll
http://instagram.com/p/ynDcd3iEf7/?modal=true
Rolls should be practiced on soft ground sand, grass, bouncy turf before being attempted on
high drops on hard wood or concrete.
Run Through Landings
“horizontal landing poses the greatest threat for developing patellar tendinopathy. A stiff
movement pattern with a small posttouchdown range of motion and short landing time
is associated with the onset of patellar tendinopathy”
When touchdown from a jump has greater forward horizontal speed than downward vertical
speed then the horizontal landing component is more dangerous and run through is more
important than getting to the ground.
Examples of appropriate 1 foot landing style could be on long jumps or free throw line jumps.
1 foot run through landing off long jump by Norris Frederick
https://instagram.com/p/2GSDSGiEZg/
Norris Frederick again
https://instagram.com/p/2SYqvBCEcu/?takenby=hoopsmovement
Here’s some 1 foot run through landings by Kroha and Odell Beckham Jr.
http://instagram.com/p/yrLvw4CEbc/?modal=true
http://instagram.com/p/ysDuBAiEYY/?modal=true
As opposed to 1 foot cutback landings ALWAYS RUN THROUGH
Strategy
run through your landings
when landing from long horizontal jumps
Running into the BackStop to Slow Down
Michael Jordan runs into the backstop on his iconic free throw line dunk
Lebron James
Dywane Wade
Strategy
use the back stop to slow down
when you need more space to run
through
Roll landing practice on sand
Strategy
use back and front rolls
to minimize landing impact from high drops,
especially on high friction surfaces
Low Point Drops
Dropping from the lowest point results in the least force required to decelerate on
landing. It minimizes gravitational acceleration to the minimum and can minimize horizontal,
rotational, and tilt velocities to 0.
Low point drop is the preferred dunk landing style of many veteran NBA dunkers including Tim
Duncan and Vince Carter.
The front of a breakaway rim sags as much as 6 inches and some NBA players have a 9’6
reach and can climb down all the way. This is how those giant dunkers last so long.
Vince Carter drops 6 inches
Tim Duncan drops 6 inches or less
Low Point Drops https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AE1oJkXeo8
If you don’t have a 9’6 standing reach you can climb to the lowest point of the net or the
backboard and drop from there. Pull ups / pull downs will help you here.
Lebron James is known to get a hand in the net for this.
Lebron drops from the net
Lebron James Net Hang Drops
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYj0RnyYR8o&feature=youtu.be
Dropping from the net is a good option for dunkers with shorter reach.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsYfvD4Y2mk
Strategy
use low point drop
when finishing the dunk in a hang
.
Hang Finishing
In order to take advantage of the low point drop we need to finish the dunk in a hang.
There is a danger in hang finishes of getting rim checked,
missing the hang , and taking an
unplanned and uncontrolled flip to the ground. This can result in some nasty injuries.
Nicolas Batum misses the hang and face plants
If you want to
improve your hang consistency to 100% you can grab the net to start the
hang.
The net is soft and sectioned off for your fingers… easy to grab! With an off hand in the net your
body weight is anchored to a position much closer to the ground. You can right yourself out of
flips.
Face plant averted!
Allen Iverson hand in the net for a safe 2 hand hang
Pro Net Pull Dunkers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pi2kxlKz04s
The net is physically in play and it is something you can use to improve landing consistency. It’s
a nice tool to have.
Strategy
hang finish
for low point drops
Strategy
split rim / net hang finish
to increase hang consistency
Depth Jump Landings
Since this is the most forceful landing style, it must be used with caution.
http://www.sportsinjurybulletin.com/archive/plyometricinjuries.html
Dwyane Wade plyometric training with Tim Grover
Vince Carter plyometric calf raise landing
Gerald Green plyometric half squat landing
Plyometric 4 limb deep squat landing
Strategy
use plyometric landings
from shorter drops
Always Have a Landing Strategy!
It’s important that you ALWAYS have a landing strategy so as to avoid injury. Imagine your
movement sequences all the way through to the end. Figure out what the safest way to come
down is for particular types of dunks.
If you a jump would end in a disastrous landing situation don’t take it! Paul George’s broken leg
comes to mind… he made a play on a ball with an impossible dlandin
Paul George breaks his leg
Always have a landing strategy, and that means sometimes don’t jump.
Strategy
DON’T JUMPWHEN YOU HAVE NOWHERE TO LAND!!
Use of Landing Pads, Landing Zones,
and Spotters
If you are at risk of a high fall onto hard ground use of landing pads and spotters is
recommended.
In small rock climbing (“bouldering”) landing pads and spotters are essential for preventing
injury, and it is something we can use to protect ourselves as dunkers.
Kadour Ziani use of landing pads and spotters
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PLGWyH_U_I
Landing pads and spotters are highly recommended when doing something crazy like jumping
over a car.
Noe Cid Rosas use of landing pads and spotters
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iH0ppylMEI0
But landing pads are great just for landing from normal dunks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eMyVJfLMhs
Many gyms have mats / landing pads that you can drag under the hoop or under your landing
zone. Take advantage of this!!
START DUNKING
Now that you know how to land you can safely start dunking. I recommend exploring these
programs to acquire the information to build something that works best for you
DUNK PROGRAMS-
JUMP MANUAL
VERT SHOCK
FREAK ATHLETE
HOOPS MOVEMENT APPROVED DUNK
INFORMATION SYSTEMS