# A Look Behind the Curtain – A Professional On The Phoenix Suns’ Training Methods



## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

> It’s not a stretch to say the Phoenix Suns training and medical staff are considered to be a cabal of sorcerers. From keeping an aging (and expanding) Shaquille O’Neal healthy, to returning Grant Hill to productivity after years and years of chronic injuries to keeping Steve Nash on the court for heavy minutes even as Nash’s body (especially his back) started to balk, the Suns staff has performed apparent miracles.
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> Seemingly whenever a talented player’s career is derailed by health concerns, “if only he played for the Suns” has become a common lament. What if New Orleans had let Eric Gordon sign there? What could they do with poor Greg Oden? If Dwyane Wade was going to leave the Heat, he should have gone to Phoenix! And so on.
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http://hardwoodparoxysm.com/2014/07...on-look-at-them-stretch-its-magic-i-tell-you/


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## Drizzy (Mar 23, 2012)

> In a nutshell, the Suns aim to ensure that a weakness in one area does not compromise other parts of the body. For example, if a player injures his right ankle he will start compensating by putting more stress on his healthy side, so the training staff treats the entire athlete and not just the injured part to ensure “there is no movement dysfunction,” as Nelson put it.


I'm super interested in sports medicine, and although I have nowhere near the knowledge that these guys do, everyone that I talk to has told me this over and over again. Apparently this is one of the most common mistakes that athletes make (only treating the injured part of their body).
The staff in Phoenix does an absolutely amazing job at keeping their guys healthy.


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

If other teams know this, wouldn't they try to replicate it?


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## Drizzy (Mar 23, 2012)

I think it was hinted at in the article.

This is a new line of thinking in this field that's slowly growing more and more popular...but the teams that do know about it are keeping it to themselves to keep that competitive edge. It's always just been treating the injury itself...knee hurts...fix the knee. But so often you'll see guys get another injury in a different place right after coming back from a different injury.

What they did with G Hill alone made me believe that whatever the Suns' staff is doing must be working.


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## Hyperion (Dec 5, 2006)

Basel said:


> If other teams know this, wouldn't they try to replicate it?


What the article didn't mention was the difference in approaches that there are to kinesiology and physical therapy. There is a subtle art to it where identifying a problem can lead to three or more solutions that are all acceptable but with varying results based on the individual.


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