Medical professionals please jump in. The most disturbing news yesterday besides the official announcement was the revelation that there was no specific incident that caused the injury. That means it resulted from a gradual process of wear and tear. I am not a medical professional, but this strikes me as especially worrisome. This suggests that the "physics" of Yao's feet is not compatible with his 52 week work schedule. Think of tree branches. Some are thick, dense, and difficult to break. Others while being the same diameter are fragile and easily broken. Human's substructures are similar, the result of genetic differences. That is the answer as to why Shaq has not had the same problems. Bottomline, given Yao's injury history this appears to be a chronic problem that MUST be addressed by Yao himself, the Rockets, and the Chinese government. It is difficult to imagine Yao breezing through season after season with feet full of screws holding bones together. Realistically, something has to give. Either some "Jimmy" shoes are specially made for him to cushion the impact, something I would think should already have been done, or his work schedule must be reduced. Is the Chinese government willing to kill the goose that laid the golden egg? What about the Rockets? Surely they have to be thinking about the business side of this equation. As hard as it is to consider, Yao's career in the NBA may be on thin ice, as thin as the bones in this feet. Yao is a wonderful person and a great player. Like all of you, I hate what has happened, but, at this point, it appears likely to keep happening unless something changes.
Clutch or moderators, I didn't see the other thread on this subject, may want to merge. Sorry and thanks.
if we're good enough, we can let yao coast on the bench like shaq for half the season, then gear him up for the playoffs. just find a big body to fill the gap in the meantime.
From what they were saying on the broadcast last night, they can use some screws to fuse the bone together. Ilgouskas had it done apparently, and he's been fine since. I hope that they can do this, and it will work for Yao. That would be great going forward.
So Yao says he's going to get a second opinion based on his news conference yesterday. What if (and yes it's wishful thinking so don't bash) this 2nd opinion says its not as bad as it seems, and that they can do a smaller, quicker procedure that may get him geared up and rested by playoff time? One can only hope right?
From what i was told yesterday while in my alcohol, tobacco, etc. semi-stupor yesterday. Due to yao's size it could have started out as something small that could have healed over the course of a week or 2 of rest and constant play and applied pressure just added to the injury. basically its a big deal he's gone for the season but the injury is a minor one and he'll be ok even though from what i'm hearing the "plate and screws" idea isnt really a good one that theres other methods of doing it that will take longer to heal but would be a stronger bone/bones once done fusing healing
The good thing is Yao will have at least a couple of months after the Olympics to rest up some more. I wouldn't be surprised if the Rockets let him miss the first month of the season. Hopefully they could keep their head above water during that time if that were the case.
I'm no doctor but it doesn't take a ROCKET scientist to understand that Yao's training which has concentrated on his upper body and legs does almost nothing for his feet which have to support that large mass almost year round. Add that with the increased minutes that Yao has been on the floor and this type of injury is inevitable. Part of the problem is Adelman has figured out a way to extend Yao's minutes by lessening his running on the court chasing guards and trying to get rebounds off our free throws. This has enabled Yao to stay longer on the court but at the expense of his feet which get no relief from carrying Yao's mass. Add that with Yao's almost endless schedule and the result is an injury every year. Even the year before last with Yao's season ending injury you would think he would have the summer to recuperate. Nope, as soon as he was healed he had to play for the China National team. Yao get's no breaks and now he will be working hard to recover in time for the Olympics. How he will he ever stay healthy with that schedule. The best solution is simple, less minutes and no summer games. Not going to happen so the next best thing is to do rigorous excercises to the mucles around the feet. He needs to treat his feet like a dancer or runner would. They spend large amount of their training excercising and stretchhing their feet. Also his diet has to change to increase the amount of Calcium, vitamin D and Vitamin A. There is a Hospital in Jamaica that treats cancer patients with non traditional cures some of which have bone cancer and use masses of Vitamin A for any bone fractures and has amazing cure rate cutting the normal healing time in half or less. Now that goes against traditional medicine but I have seen it work. I also wouldn't throw out these chinese herb treatments. In the end Yao's feet can only handle so much of a pounding and if he is not given enough rest they will break down no matter what.
have yall heard of Nike Free 7.0? the sole of the shoes were designed so that it simulates running bare foot. this is supposed to strengthen the muscles of the foot and the arch. stronger arch = more weight bearing initially, wearing these shoes are supposed to hurt like hell but in the long run, your feet will be stronger. after yao recovers, maybe he should look into these. (if reebok premits)
I've had a stress fracture in essentially my lower shin bone. It hurt everytime i stepped on it, and factoring in yao's weight and the fact that it is on his foot, i can understand the pain. That said, the doctors had me rest on it and thats it. While it did help me with the immediate pain, I can sometimes feel that area getting weak again when I play excessive amounts of basketball. Essentially what I'm saying is that its nearly impossible to stay off your feet completely in even the least active of lifestyles- let alone a NBA player. I think the screw is probably the best way to ensure that the bone actually fuses back together properly since the simple wear and tear of regular life will be detrimental to proper healing if going the non surgical route. Once again, I'm not a doctor, just speaking from experience.
I wonder if this is something that would not have happened had he sat out the All-Star game. If having 4-5 days of NO basketball would have prevented this then how bad does that make the Rockets medical staff look? Our season could be over because nobody told Yao to sit out what is basically an exhibition game. Just a thought but who knows? I would say it is time to bring in the best podiatrist in the country and make him a member of the Rockets staff no matter the cost.
I didn't really watch the Rockets games last year, but if Mutombo played so well for us when Yao was out and having watched the game last night made me wonder: Why not put Mutombo in the rotation while Yao was still healthy? I think he's still strong enough to play at least one quarter every night. That's 12 minutes less Yao has to play. Have him play the second quarter. Now that Yao is out, Rockets should REALLY consider T-Mac's playing time. We don't want him out with a back problem now until the playoffs!
