NBA, GE Healthcare team up on research to prevent player injuries

Seeking further ways to prevent injuries, the NBA is joining with GE Healthcare to promote research that could benefit players’ health.

In an announcement made Wednesday, NBA commissioner Adam Silver pointed out that players’ well-being is the league’s “highest priority” and that the partnership with GE Healthcare aims to “reduce injuries, lengthen careers and improve post-career health for NBA players.”

The focus of the research will be on acute and overuse musculoskeletal injuries, which affect muscles, nerves, tendons, joints and cartilage and are caused or worsened by factors such as repetition and force.

Dr. John DiFiori, the NBA director of sports medicine, will chair a board that will include physicians from five NBA teams. The league and GE will provide funding for research into orthopedic conditions it says will “contribute to a deeper understanding of overuse injuries and the resulting impact on athletes’ health and missed playing time.”

The league and GE also will collaborate with sneaker partners to advance the research efforts.