As we all know Tmac has a slight case of scoliosis....I myself have had some recent problems with limb lengths, which through research i found can be due to actual bone length, muscle imbalance, or misalignment of the hips/spine (as would happen with scoliosis)....so my point is this, even a minor case of scoliosis can cause one leg to function as if it was shorter than the other because the hip sometimes tilts to compensate for the curved spine. since tmac has never had severe leg injuries, both have been even enough when it comes to strength/flexibility and function where this issue wouldn't cause a problem. However, with surgery, the leg strength of that leg would significantly be minimized and both would no longer be even enough. That's where the problems would start ocurring. I had no issues until my basic daily movements favored one side/leg and eventually one had greater strength/flexibility /range of motion. This caused issues when trying to work out because the "bad" leg isn't in the proper position and all the pounding is hitting the joints incorrectly. So with Tmac, his bad knee/leg may not be in the perfect anatomical position when rehabbing, therefore won't benefit it correctly and may be causing other kinds of pain/soreness because the joints are being stressed in an unsual way.... I'm guessing/hoping the trainers or doctors have considered this, but we don't really know for sure. I have a degree in Kinesiology but my focus is more with health and fitness rather than sports medicine, so I have someone more qualified in that area can chime in and if we can agree this may be a possiblity, then perhaps Clutch or someone with media access can ask one of the coaches or trainers.
T-Mac's "witch doctor" in Waco helped his back problems by doing an adjustment on his leg. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/4432126.html Is he still going to see Dr. Patterson in Waco? You'd think they'd help stay on top of any alignment problems.
Grady looks like a duck when he runs because of his flat-footedness. When he's out of shape or injured, the duck resemblance becomes even greater. He has also looked like a baby deer learning to walk last season and into this season with the knee situation. The legs are all wobbly as if they are about to give out at any given moment. So, basically, he is now a $21 million baby deer with duck feet.
I think that doctor basically corrected a problem tmac developed early in his career because of his scoliosis, but it didn't cure scoliosis. I don't think there's a cure for it, just treatment.
Tracy recently had his knee examined by Dr. James Andrews, who is one of the top orthopedic specialists in the world. He was told that there is absolutely nothing wrong with his knee, and that all he had to do was strengthen the muscles and tendons.
Having viewed the video posted last year of McGrady strength training, I think it's pretty safe to conclude his trainers haven't given any practical consideration to anything pertaining to his condition.
Scoliosis can only be sort of cured through back surgery where they put rods in your back. Depending on how bad your scoliosis is after the surgery you can no longer play sports.
That wasn't my point though. what i suggested woudn't exactly damage the knee or mess it up, maybe over a longer period of time, but mainly my point was it wouldn't allow the knee to be rehabbed properly and keep it from getting better, or at least within the predicted timeframe.
I would assume that a world-renowned specialist would have taken that into consideration. Can't spell today.
Wouldn't you assume that the world renown specialists tmac saw for his back prior to seeing the "witchdoctor", would have taken into consideration what the witch doctor did? If i remember correctly Tmac had no hope prior to seeing him since he had been to all these big shot specialists...obviously I don't know more than a specialist, but that doesn't mean they know everything. Given his past experiences with doctors, it's not unreasonable to think they may have missed somethign again.
I found some articles dating back to 2007....Tmac was "fixed" in Dec of 06, he's quoted in may of 07 as saying he continues to make unnecessary monthly visits to the doctor just to get a "tune up" to ease his mind, but that's over a year ago so who knows if he's still doing it, especially during rehab. Also found this quote by Dr.Patterson, aka the witchdoctor: Frequently, the trigger isn't obvious. McGrady came to Waco for help in coping with back spasms. Patterson started not with McGrady's back but rather with his knees. "Everybody looks at his back, and they miss the fact that his head is pulled to the right, his right shoulder is dropped forward and when he goes to sit down, he puts his hands down to steady himself, which means he has very little leg strength," Patterson said.
I think that if it's true that his scoliosis and knee problems are really related, then I would say that it's time that the Rockets just start moving on without him. Keep Wafer in the starting lineup for the rest of the season.
LOL, when I first glanced at the title, I thought this has something to do with Scola and knee injuries.
My friend has scoliosis. It basically leaves an awkward bent to his back, and a flat foot as well. I'm not sure whether flatfoot is a part of the scoliosis package though. It doesn't cause knee problems, not that I know of. It does cause slight running problems though, my friend also needs to put on a special foot pad in his shoes. He also has an awkward bend to his foot, where both his feet are bent inwards. Above all, my friend has an uglyass jumpshot that I hope is not because of his condition.
alright, let me try this one more time because I don't think some of you guys are reading my post completely...or maybe i wasn't clear... PLEASE READ: I didn't make this post to suggest tmac's scoliosis itself is causing the knee injury he had which forced him to have surgery. Maybe it is related, maybe its not. My point is that scoliosis throws you're body out of balance, like the quote said from Dr. Patterson, Tmac's shoulder drooped, his head wasn't even sitting straight, etc. What I AM suggesting is that this imbalance is interfering with his rehab and not allowing him to properly strengthen his knee back into form, which is why its taking so long. Look at this image: http://www.massagetoday.com/content/images/dalton01__1_1_5760.gif Imagine if the person in this image tried to do a squat, one knee would be higher than the other, forcing one leg to do more work and putting stress on the other leg incorrectly. So one side gets overworked, the other worked incorrectly AND underworked. I'm sure he's done one leg at a time so that would help, but eventually I would guess he started using both legs.
