What’s the deal with all these oblique injuries?

As you’ve probably noticed, the Yankees have been dealing with an abnormal amount of oblique injuries this year. Curtis Granderson is the latest casualty, but Joba Chamberlain, Greg Golson, and Sergio Mitre have also been hit at some point. Dan Barbarisi spoke to Dr. Jonathan Glashow, the co-chair of sports medicine at Mt. Sinai, who indicated that the rash of oblique issues could be tied to imbalanced training. “There’s been a rash of focus on core strengthening, the generic core,” said Glashow. “But it’s not so simple. If you strengthen part of the core more than another part of the core, it creates an imbalance and leads to these oblique injuries.”

Essentially, players might be working their abs and back too much during the offseason (or, more likely, their obliques not enough), creating muscles that are more developed than the connecting tissue. I’m no doctor, but I’m guessing you can think of it like a chain, meaning the core muscles are only as strong as the weakest link. Whatever’s going on, hopefully it stops soon and everyone heals up in a timely manner.