[KI Skins Fan]

Originally Posted by Buffalo Bob

It seems like the last handful of seasons the Redskins have suffered way more missed games due to injury than the average team in the league. I wonder if it is more than just plain old bad luck. Does the training staff need improvement? Are the players getting too beat up in practice? Could it be a conditioning issue? Are certain players logging too many snaps?

Yes, I believe that what you suggest can be done because the Washington Nationals completely revamped their medical and training programs in 2016 and they have had significantly less playing time lost due to injuries since then. Here are some of the things they've done taken from a 2016 Washington Post article:

In mid-November, Rizzo led a news conference in which he unveiled a new organization-wide medical plan he suggested could be “the new Moneyball” — a medical system that would take a more proactive approach to keeping players on the field.

“Thirteen-hundred disabled list days from core players. How much does that cost us?” Rizzo asked then, in the wake of a disappointing season in which the expected starting lineup materialized twice. “This is really a money-saving operation.”

The Nationals created what they call a “medical advisory board” in partnership with Inova Health System that included Executive Director of Medical Services Harvey Sharman and Doctors Robin West and Keith Pyne. It relies on hands-on expertise and analytics to identify trouble spots before they become injuries and monitor the total health of Nationals players.

In spring training, the team’s personnel evaluated each player’s mobility — biomechanical baselines, basically. The idea is that as players fatigue, their biomechanics show the strain. When players, or more accurately their muscles, fatigue, they are at greater risk for injury. Those baselines provide a means of comparison, helpful in determining whether a player is fatiguing in a way that might put him at risk.

Tracking biomechanics is not unique to the Nationals. But the Nationals’ commitment to data has continued into the regular season. Corrective exercise specialist Joe Cancellieri — one of the new hires — paces the clubhouse each day with a tablet, surveying players about how they feel, how much they slept and other similar details.

The Nationals also tested players for allergies and other nutritional intolerances. Some players were asked to alter their diets in the hopes that little tweaks could improve their health.

The effort is led by Sharman, the new executive director of medical services, who formerly worked for Leeds United, the English professional soccer club.

“He’s one of the best guys I’ve ever been around,” outfielder Bryce Harper said. “. . . Really finding the problem and making sure to get it going and get everything going around it. Everybody goes in there, and these guys really take care of us. It’s the best thing this organization has done in a long time for the players.”

Rizzo said the Nationals tried to bring in people like Sharman — who had never dealt in baseball before — who have a variety of backgrounds. Players say they sense a commitment to their well-being that transcends the often precarious balance of trust between trainers, players, and their managers.

During that 2015 season, 11 Nationals spent a total of 1,024 days on the disabled list that cost them $32 million, according to SpotTrac, a website that tracks these things. Surprisingly, neither number led the majors, though both ranked in the top 10.

This season, as of about the two-thirds mark, 10 Nationals players spent a total of 367 days on the disabled list at a cost of $6.8 million. Perhaps because of the changes — or perhaps, as Zimmerman pointed out, the sample size may be too small to tell — those 11 injured Nationals averaged 93 days each on the disabled list. This season, those 10 injured Nationals have averaged just fewer than 37.

“I know the care is light years ahead of where it was,” Werth said. “. . . There’s going to be nicks, bumps, there’s going to be injuries. All in all, I think we’ve done a pretty good job of putting players in a position to succeed.”