Everything you need to know about Tarsal Navicular Stress Fractures

My brother had the same exact thing yao has... wow wen i read it, i thought of my brother.. stressed facture on LEFT foot.. wat are the odds.. my bro use to run everyday in the mornin about 5-7 miles.. his foot couldnt take it no more and one day SNAP.. it took him SO LONG TO RECOVER.. about a year before he started runnin again.. and now he only runs on his treadmill doin only 3-4 miles.. he told me the source of his problem was the shoe he was wearin.. he had nikes but the running nike shoes had a plate inside that messed up his foot.. so wen i read the news today bout yao.. i thought it was becuz of the crappy reebok shoes he wears, but then again he does play ball all year long.. but hey its YAO and hes an athlete so i expect him to be back no later then 6 months.

 

I had a stress fracture like this and if it's not displaced it's not that bad. Just takes forever to heal. Took me about 4-5 months before the pain was gone. Couldn't run a step during that time.

Bring those Chinese Doctors over. Stick some needles in his foot and put the juice to him. Maybe that'll make him heal faster. Screw surgery!

 

OK, but ... why would they say he's done if he's not? If they wanted to motivate the team for the rest of the regular season, they'd hold out the prospect of him being back for the playoffs. Declaring him done is a total morale killer. I can't see them doing that unless they're dead certain of it.

 

Take Zometa, start daily hyperbaric chamber sessions? Could he be back for the playoffs?

 

I definitely hope what you said is true sweet.

 

Damn Yao why don't you drink more milk? Your bone is so easily broken. Drink more milk man....

 

Man, I still can't imagine myself telling about YAO'S INJURY!

It hit me in the head just like it hit you, yesterday I was only worried about W streak, now it's Yao's injury.

Btw, I think my dad had the same injury, he recovered it in nearly 6-7 months fully.

 

Lets just hope and pray that Yao's career doesn't end like this.

Bill Walton

But dozens of injuries, most infamously a chronically broken bone in his left foot, robbed Walton of the storybook career that seemed sure to be his. During his 13 years in the league, he played in only 44 percent of regular-season contests and left the game with a modest 13.3 scoring average.

Walton's career-long struggle with injury and pain began even before he achieved fame at UCLA. While at Helix High School in La Mesa, Calif., Walton broke an ankle, a leg, and several bones in his feet and underwent knee surgery. As a collegian, he suffered tendinitis in his knees and injured his back. Before playing a single minute in the NBA, Walton knew the pains on injuries.

Then came the injuries. Foot problems limited Walton to only 35 games as a rookie and a meager 12.8 ppg. Portland won 11 more games in 1974-75 than in the previous year but failed to live up to its potential, largely because of Walton's health troubles.

Portland fell to the bottom of the Pacific Division in 1975-76, though Walton started to come into his own, scoring 16.1 ppg, pulling down 13.4 rpg and demonstrating excellent passing skills from the low- or high-post in 51 contests. Still, foot problems continued to hamper the young center, and fans started wondering what the Blazers had gotten themselves into. During his first two years in Portland, Walton had sprained an ankle, broken his left wrist twice and dislocated two toes and two fingers. He even broke a toe on a water sprinkler and hurt his leg in a jeep accident.

Walton was even more spectacular in 1977-78 -- that is, as long as he was healthy. The Walton-led Blazers rampaged through their first 60 games with a 50-10 record. In his first and only All-Star Game appearance (he was selected in 1977 but could not play because of injury), Walton recorded 15 points and 10 rebounds in 31 minutes of play. Then, in February, after a 113-92 trouncing of Philadelphia, Walton was forced to the sideline with an injured left foot. In his 58 regular-season appearances, Walton averaged 18.9 ppg, 13.2 rpg, 5.0 apg and 2.52 bpg. Despite the late-season injury, Walton earned the NBA Most Valuable Player award.

His foot deadened by a painkilling injection, Walton attempted a comeback in the playoffs against the Seattle SuperSonics. Then came what many felt was the death knell of Walton's career. After Game 2, X-rays showed that the navicular bone below Walton's left ankle was broken. The Trail Blazers lost the series in six games and the services of Walton forever.

The injuries, however, didn't stop. Walton refractured the navicular bone in the fourth exhibition game of the 1979-80 season and played only 14 regular-season contests, averaging 13.9 points. They were the last games he would play for more than two seasons, in which the Clippers won only 36 and 17 games, respectively.

http://www.nba.com/history/players/walton_bio.html

 

That's the major difference. Yao's not shooting up on cortisone trying to play through his injury.

 

Yao needs to get rid of those crappy reeboks and get the nikes with the carbon fiber shankplate in the mid foot.

 

isnt it a double edged sword? the more yao pounds and runs the more stress he puts on his feet, the more likely this happens......but if yao doesnt push himself, he wont have the stamina to last long minutes.......

maybe JVG was right to limit yao's minutes.....at least with JVG Yao's injuries were freak injuries....this one seems to be an accumulation type.

 

JVG was right to limit Yao's minutes. We have the horses this year and there was no excuse for playing Yao over 40 min a game.

 

Actually it is a very simple surgery. it can be done with minimal incision if there is no displacement. I do 3-4 of them a month. ususaly it needs 6-8 weeks in a non weight bearing cast, followed be semi weight bearing and physical therapy. In someone like yao when the cost does not matter you can use a bone stimulator almost right after surgery to make sure it heals.

 

actually those would not have saved yao. I wonder if after he had his metatarsal fracture, they put him in custom orthotics are not. that could have prevented a stress fracture.

 

BTW navicular is not a good bone to break in the foot. actually it is pretty hard to break your navicular. better than talus or calcanues i say. those two wouyld have probably ended his career for good.

 

So do you think there's a chance he could come back in the playoffs then?