Oct 18, 2022
We welcome in another NBA season with an analysis of how COVID-19 impacted the health of NBA players during the shortened 2020-21 season. Dr. Anikar Chhabra, MD from Mayo Clinic Arizona and his colleagues published “Effect of a Condensed NBA Season on Injury Risk - An Analysis of the 2020 Season and Player Safety” in OJSM in September. Dr. Chhabra joins us to discuss his findings that the injury rate did increase during this shortened season that featured more back-to-back games and games per week than usual in addition to a shorter off-season. He talks about how this trend has been seen in prior condensed seasons, the effects of inadequate rest not only with an increased workload but also with the demands of the COVID-19 testing protocol, and how these results may apply to our youth athletes who are under increasing pressure to focus on a single sport year-round, a hot topic in Sports Medicine known as Sport Specialization.