High school athletes who tended to focus on one sport were 50 percent more likely to get hurt than those who hadn’t specialized. Injuries included ankle sprains, knee tendonitis, and stress fractures.
Source: Young Athletes Who Specialize Too Soon Risk More Injuries : Shots – Health News : NPR
I don’t want to completely let shoe companies off the hook for sports injuries in athletes, because the wrong shoe can actually contribute to injuries. In the article, Young Athletes Who Specialize Too Soon Risk More Injuries : Shots – Health News : NPR, the research finally confirms what I’ve been saying as a certified coach, overuse is the primary reason for multiple athletes breaking down earlier in their careers.
I’ve seen designers faulted for the injuries of Derrick Rose. These are designers who are respected and legends making the claim that D Rose is a victim of poor footwear design. The problem is Rose was never the only player wearing the shoes made for him during his injury seasons. As a matter of fact entire college programs wore the same shoe during the seasons Rose was injured. There isn’t any evidence or proof of entire teams falling to injury. This is to say that it isn’t the shoes.
I mean when D Rose was injured in 2015 he was wearing the Rose 5. The University of Kansas didn’t have any significant injuries that season wearing the shoes, and actually reached the Elite 8 wearing a combination of the Rose, Lillard and John Wall signature shoes from adidas.
Using Derrick Rose as a measuring stick and example it becomes clear that it was never the shoes. In the article above on misleading hype, I establish that D Rose played over 60 games a year since he was in middle school. What I didn’t discuss was Rose’s playing style vs a groundbound guy like John Stockton, who played in old school, heavy soled Nike shoes. The same shoes that saw a player like Penny Hardaway have a limited career due to injury.