Dr. Walt Lowe, the doctor who performed the bone marrow aspirate surgery on Dwight Howard this season. We can all agree that our title chances depend on a healthy Dwight Howard. Harden can be the next Jordan out there and we would have little hope of winning the title, much less the title. Well Howard has looked amazing since he has come back, and especially in the playoffs! He looks better than he did last season when he was "healthy". It looks like 2009-2011 Dwight out there aka one of the two most dominating players in the league, along with LeBron James. He is rebounding at an all-time rate, protecting the paint, finishing around the rim with vicious dunks and just looks 100% confident in his knee and game right now. The Mavericks missed like 3 point blank layups in the 4th quarter due to him being on the floor. If this is the Dwight we get for the rest of the playoffs, we have a serious chance to make some noise. If he is healthy, he is still arguably the most dominating force in all of basketball. No one in this league can rebound, protect the paint, finish above the rim and cause general terror on a basketball court than a healthy, motivated Dwight Howard. So credit Dr. Lowe for the surgery and getting Dwight right, just in time. That surgery has propelled our season to potentially new heights.
Someone should bump that thread when it was announced Dwight was getting the surgery. We should also credit Mchale for sticking to the minutes restrictions.
Good thing he turned his ankle, he would have probably been out with people hoping he gets better if he never got an MRI
Dr. Lowe performed one procedure...the staff, espcially Biles, led Dwight through his rehab day by day. Maybe its time to give the staff some credit.
Yes. Biles is the team physical therapist. He is the one that should get the credit for Dwight's recovery. In the sports medicine world the doctor gets the "credit" for successful return from surgery and the sports PT gets the "credit" for successful return in non surgical situations. Once again I repeat..Dwight did not have surgery. He had an injection that the doctor experimentally felt might speed up healing. This has not been proven but professional athletes are always guinea pigs for need treatments. The reason Dwight is back is because of his diligent and comprehensive rehab program led by the physical therapist Jason Biles. When Dwight went out and I read the reports from Lowe and Dwight about his knee I knew this would happen and Dwight would be back. Some chastised me for giving my medical opinion and criticized the organization for lying or misleading the fans. Im here to tell you that everything happened exactly how it was supposed to based on the reports Dr. Lowe gave at the time. Maybe one day people will listen to professionals who do this all day everyday. Im sure the naysayers that argued with me in other Dwight injury threads won't show their face in here to eat crow because they are trolls. Here is to along playoff run and a few more years of Dwight's prime!
Dr. Lowe is a great doctor (seriously he's a superstar in the medical field), but the training staff deserves way more credit for the rehab portion.
Obviously everyone deserves lots of credit, but who made the smart and gutsy call to give him the shot?
You still don't get it. The shot's benefit was negligible. Professional athletes get the kitchen sink thrown at them. If that shot was a cure-all then everyday regular patients would have access to it. Its an adjunct. The rehab program got him where he is. Day to day we have to manage the ups and downs. When to push it. When to back off. What muscles do we need to strengthen? Which muscles or other soft tissues do we need get more mobility and flexibility in. When is he ready for full court sprinting? When is he ready to jump and explode? When is he ready for full participation in practice? When is he ready for a game? How many minutes is he gonna play? Is he gonna play back to backs? The physical therapist is determining all of that, not the doctor. Dr. Lowe is minding his business running his medical practice and the therapist will consult with him if medication is needed or if an MRI or x-ray is needed. Otherwise the team therapist is handling it. It is a team effort in sports medicine. Nobody is getting back anywhere without teamwork. In situations where surgery is not indicated we have the freedom to progress patients at their tolerance and the physicians rely on us to get the job done. I work closely with many sports medicine physicians and if you ask them or Dr. Lowe they would tell you the same thing. Go back and read what he said. I know Dr. Lowe and see some of his patients that live in the area where I work. He is a huge believer in physical therapists and even won our National Sports Physical Therapy Section Physician of the Year Award in 2014 for contributions and support of sports physical therapists.
