[nba.com] How will Yao Bounce back?

dkoune · Sep 12, 2008

http://www.nba.com/fantasy/draftkit/injuries_08.html

Yao Ming - HOU [C]
Moving on to one of the biggest athletes in the world today, both literally and figuratively: Houston Rocket center Yao Ming. Yao's commitment to play with Team China as the host country at this summer's Olympic games has been well-documented elsewhere; here, we'll deal with the facts of his injury.

Last February, Yao shocked the basketball world with the announcement that he had a stress fracture in his left foot, and was going to miss the rest of the regular season. The injury was to his tarsal navicular bone, which lies on the inside back part of the foot, basically connecting the ankle to the mid foot.

A stress fracture is not an acute injury, but a chronic one that often takes weeks and months to develop starting with a dull aching pain and progressing to the point where even walking is excruciating. All bones in the human body, especially the weight-bearing bones in the lower leg and foot, are constantly being broken down by the body and built back up again. When the breaking-down part out-paces the building-up, stress fractures develop. If left untreated, they worsen and can eventually lead to non-union fractures, which rarely heal effectively without surgery.

Yao's fracture was apparently caught early enough that the prognosis for recovery was good, but he still had the operation to fixate the bone with a few screws across the fracture site. The surgery was his best chance of making it back in the shortest amount of time, obviously important with the Olympic Games quickly approaching.

He had the surgery in early March and after a period of immobilization and non-weight bearing, he was ready to resume training in June. By then end of that month, x-rays showed he was 80 percent healed, and he returned to light practice. You really can't ask for a better outcome than that. By the end of July, Yao was back in the lineup for his National Team, admittedly at less than 100%, but planning to play for his country.

To us, he's an example of everything you look for in a professional athlete and it all starts with the word commitment. We should be so lucky with some of the players who have taken the court for Team USA. That said, last year was the third straight season that injuries have limited Yao to under 60 games. The human skeleton just isn't designed to support a body the size and weight of Yao's - it seems clear that he'll be at risk for similar nagging injuries for the rest of his career.

lxnew2000 · Sep 12, 2008

interesting read, more from a medical perspective. We have seen many times in the past, Yao was able to bounce bak quite well. I think with Ron Ron it just makes Yao's life easier on both end of the floor.
FYI, also in the same link posted:

Tracy McGrady - HOU [SG/SF]
Another player scheduled for a lot of rehab time this summer was McGrady. He had similar procedures performed on his left shoulder and knee after the Rockets' playoff loss to Utah. McGrady has battled more than his share of injuries over the years: the two I just mentioned, plus elbow problems and back spasms that have reared their ugly head a few times in his career.

He can still be one the most productive players in the game when healthy; you don't have to look any further than the 40 he put up in the last game of the Jazz series for indication. He hasn't been heard from much this offseason, but he should be healthy for training camp.

McGrady's desire to get back on the court and the numbers he's able to put up may be bolstered by the team's acquisition of Ron Artest. It will take a lot of the defensive responsibility away from T-Mac, which never hurts, but Artest will also open up the offensive side of the floor for their number one option from the perimeter.

Ron Artest - HOU [SF]
Artest had a couple injuries of his own to deal with last season: a left thumb sprain - which may be an aggravated repair of an old torn ligament - and bone chips in his elbow.

The bone chips result from chronic wear and tear on a joint, leading to small cartilage fragments breaking off and more or less getting stuck inside the joint. They can be extremely painful depending on where they end up. Both issues required surgery but shouldn't slow him down going forward in '08-09. Artest still put up solid numbers last season, and with renewed motivation (how many times have you heard that?) and better offensive options around him, that trend could continue.

Jazzhands · Sep 12, 2008

How will he bounce back? By falling down and breaking something.

LBJ-Tmac · Sep 12, 2008

yao will get 20 points easy because of his bulk inside. he'll get close to half of em every game at the free throw line. reduced mintues would be a big plus

singaporet-mac · Sep 13, 2008

LBJ-Tmac said:

yao will get 20 points easy because of his bulk inside. he'll get close to half of em every game at the free throw line. reduced mintues would be a big plus
Click to expand...

yea agreed his physical interior size will get him easy points plus free throws and rest

mrfirefly7 · Sep 13, 2008

I believe Yao get free throws this season because Artest is going to draw more fouls, which means that opponent team will be penalty earlier.

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[nba.com] How will Yao Bounce back?

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