Upstream: The Quest to Solve Problems Before They Happen

by Dan Heath

In 1999, the doctor and sports trainer Marcus Elliott joined the staff of the New England Patriots, whose players had been plagued by hamstring injuries. At the time, there was a kind of fatalistic mind-set about injuries. People thought that injuries were “just a part of the sport,” said Elliott. “It’s just the nature of the sport and they’re just freak injuries.” Football is a tough game; players will get hurt. It’s inevitable. Elliott’s philosophy was different. He thought that most injuries were simply the result of bad training. In most NFL training environments, the focus was on getting bigger and stronger. Even though players’ bodies—and the positions they played—differed greatly, the training was mostly the same. “It’s almost like walking into a doctor’s office and—without interviewing you, without conducting any tests on you—he gives you a prescription,” he said. “It makes no sense. But that’s how the training of professional athletes was conducted.… It was a one-size-fits-all program.”