Try the boot and see where it takes him. If there is a slightest chance of him playing this season, He should consider it. After three months, He should just go for the surgery.
After seeing several doctors, I guess that Yao should have a rough idea to get which treatment from two. Likely he will get another surgery, hoping this is the last one when he is still on the rockets.
I'd rather see surgery, but electronic stimulation with the boot for a few months isn't a bad option either. Worst case, the fracture doesn't heal after a few months, and he has the surgery anyway. Well, I guess that's not the WORST case scenario, but let's not dwell in the negativity. Get well Yao...and stay off that foot. Get some crutches, man...
I'm with DD on this one, put a cast on that sucker and make it completely immobile. I'm not sure about all these weird alternative treatments you guys are talking about (like electromagnetism or whatever yall said) but if they want to do the wait 3 months thing, they really need to immobilize that sucker. Just my official, non-medicinal, unqualified opinion.
<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/m-n-jZJhpT4&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/m-n-jZJhpT4&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> Another Yao thinking about some other method?
He had surgery about halfway through the '00-'01 season and came back about 20 games into the '01-'02 season. However, he didn't begin starting again until about the last 20 games of the season and only averaged 20 minutes per game even when he did resume his starting role. So if this is the option Yao is going for, a foot restructuring, it really is better for him to have the surgery ASAP. In the case of Ilgauskas, it took him 11 months to get back on the court and even longer to get back to playing starters minutes.
Im no doctor, but three months of immobilization would certainly come with a fair amount of undesired effects. Its not worth it.
get the surgery already and just come back for 2010. no use to bring him back for the later part of the season. we're not gonna win a championship that way.
i say do the boot or cast first. also try alternative methods with herbs which can help the healing process. get the surgery as the last option.
To those of you guys that are suggesting Yao puts on a cast for 3 months and just immobilize the damn thing for the sake of coming back at the All-Star break or something ridiculous like that.... QUIT BEING GREEDY. He's not coming back. No way. Now how. It's already July and Yao is looking rather fleshy from not being able to train at all. So lets say he gets the cast put on this month. By the time that sucker comes off sometime in October... the season is already under way. I'm no Doctor but it's not like the cast comes off after 3 months and all is well. It's going to take weeks more than likely months for him to even put pressure on the foot and walk like a normal person. For ****s and giggles lets pretend everything is going as planned and he's walking normal by December and in January he's ready to get back into training and game shape. That's roughly 8 months since he last had any extreme physical activity. I'd give it another 2 months ( I'm being extremely generous here ) for Yao to get back into shape... losing extra weight/gaining strength, being able to run, practice, make cuts, pivot, jump etc. And for him to get back into "basketball" shape it will take another 2 months or so. If you've been counting along we're now sometime in April/May. SEASON OVER. Now if he tries to rush this process like some of you guys are suggesting it's a recipe for disaster. If for some miraculous reason he is ahead of schedule (slim to none chances) and is ready by March or so he's still not gonna play. I'm gonna guess were gonna be floating a few games above .500 all season. Point is even if he's presumed to be ready sometime in the regular season ... he's really not. Rockets medical staff might suggest otherwise . Either way we're not gonna be close to making the playoffs barring any miracles by Morey this Summer. I don't know what exact route Yao will take. But I'm 99.999999999999% positive that he will be out the entire season.
Mann.stop with this...if you ever were in a cast you and were immobliezd you would know that after 2-3 months the muscles that is casted is thin...fraile..and almost DEAD. So when the cast comes off..you would have to wait until it gets stregenth to walk on it.. let lone just put it on the ground. That process is not granteed and its a recipe for diaster..all its gonna do is break again or something is gonna go wrong..let YaO sit it out..and come backk 2010 season. Hopefully, by then he is healed and ready to go! *sigh
@ Asian Sensation: you totally missed the point. the reconstruction surgery is pretty risky. that means there is a good chance that yao won't be able to play again after this type of surgery. it's either it works or he's gone for good. the problem is that there's not only the risk that the surgery won't be successful, there's also the risk that the surgery will be successful but yao still could break his foot again. if i'm understanding this right, if yao opts for the reconstruction surgery comes back from it and breaks his foot again this would be it for him as well. so, surgery or not it's not about coming back next season. it's about the risk of medical retirement. imho, the best option is putting the foot in the boot again and let it rest for another 3 months. if it's healed then - good. give yao more rest and start training for a comeback for the 2010/11 season. if he would break his foot again after that or if it's still not healed after the 3 months he could still have the surgery. it sucks for us rockets fans but we have to get used to the facts. this is all about yao and not about the rockets. it's his career and he should look for the best option available for HIM. if that means he's opting for a conservative treatment to avoid the risk of medical retirement at the cost of potentially re-breaking the foot and only participating in a handfull of games until his contract with the rockets expires then we have to live with that.
I am just kidding but I am really tired of these allegation of non-healing. Ask your friends and relatives, how many people had a non-healing outcome? Hairline fracture will heal. Yao is no exception. If you do not give Yao the chance to heal on his own, why you want him go through the surgery which is proved a failure on him? An extra pin will not change this non-healing thing. Yao should retire if he can not heal on its own, period. Human body is not as simple as an auto.
LOL, yeah. I'm totally lost here as to why the entire board is on the edge of its collective seat with regards to this.
