What is the oblique muscle? Why Sam Darnold's injury location is concern for Seahawks QB

You don't hear about oblique injuries a lot in the NFL. They're more common among baseball players, where they can often sideline players for weeks.

The oblique is an important muscle for rotational actions, like hitting a baseball, or throwing a football. And that's why Sam Darnold's injury for the Seattle Seahawks is so concerning heading into a Saturday night NFC Divisional Round matchup with the San Francisco 49ers.

Here's what you need to know.

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What is the oblique muscle?

The oblique muscles are located on the sides of our abdomen.

They're basically the muscles you can feel on your flank, just below the rib cage.

"Your external obliques all your trunk to twist from side to side," writes the Cleveland Clinic.

Darnold's injury is to his left oblique, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter.

You can envision a right-handed QB throwing. That left side is facing toward the defense and has to torque firmly to complete a firm throw.

The added report from Schefter that Darnold hasn't even thrown in a couple days makes this even more worrisome. It's hard to know how his body might respond.

The Seahawks' backup QB is Drew Lock. Hopefully he doesn't have any issues with his obliques, because Seattle might need him.

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