I always get excited when I can tell where and why a person has pathology simply by observing them move.
I was given this camera angle from the 2013 US Open that showed the back of Rafa Nadal from the baseline.
I noticed on his preparation for return of serve, when he rotates his his right femur (thigh bone) internally (toward the middle), he gets premature and excessive motion at his right knee and needs to he compensate for this lack of motion by moving his right foot (see video above). If you look at the wrinkles in his shorts (a technique that I teach in my classes) you will notice that he has more wrinkles his left shorts leg than his right. Only when he compensates at his foot does he achieve the rotation in his femur that he needs. (you may need to view the video several time and utilize the pause button to see it).
I noticed on his preparation for return of serve, when he rotates his his right femur (thigh bone) internally (toward the middle), he gets premature and excessive motion at his right knee and needs to he compensate for this lack of motion by moving his right foot (see video above). If you look at the wrinkles in his shorts (a technique that I teach in my classes) you will notice that he has more wrinkles his left shorts leg than his right. Only when he compensates at his foot does he achieve the rotation in his femur that he needs. (you may need to view the video several time and utilize the pause button to see it).
At that point I searched the Internet to confirm that Rafa's right knee was the one that had sustained injury.
I was correct that it is in fact Nadal's right knee that has been giving him problems over the years. The abnormal forces acting on his right knee, at least from watching this video, have not been completely addressed by his rehabilitation team.
When we lack of movement in a particular area we make it up elsewhere.
Can you guess where the lack of motion, aka. dysfunction is? shoot me an email to sigproed@gmail.com ( I will post the answer next time)
Unless and until this dysfunction is correctly identified and rectified, it is just a matter of time before he sustains another injury to his right knee.
It doesn't seem to be affecting his play at this year's the Australian open.
Let's see how he does in the finals.
