Apparently the injury is nothing big... Yao hurts knee; X-rays not planned By JANNY HU Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle After spending most of the preseason without rookie Yao Ming, the Rockets got another taste of life without their 7-5 center Saturday. Yao left the game against the Denver Nuggets at the end of the first quarter with a sprained left knee and did not return. Rockets spokesman Nelson Luis said Yao's injury was not serious and the team doesn't plan to have the knee X-rayed. Yao will be re-evaluated today. Yao appeared to be hurt after after going up for a rebound against Nuggets center Nene Hilario with about eight minutes left in the first quarter. Yao fouled Hilario after Hilario missed a three-foot layup, then tangled with him again on the rebound attempt, which Hilario gathered and put back in for a basket. But Yao continued to play, scoring two more points and feeding Cuttino Mobley for a slam dunk before he left with 49 seconds remaining in the first. He finished with six points and six rebounds in 11 minutes. The minutes were the fewest Yao has played since Nov. 9 against Golden State -- the Rockets' fifth game of the season. Although Yao was apparently injured on a routine play, Rockets guard Steve Francis did complain of a slippery Compaq Center court during a substitution in the second quarter. After several players seemed to have trouble with their footing, Francis noted at the scorers' table that the hardwood felt like like it had "not been swept." Rockets forward Glen Rice also had his day cut short when he suffered a left shoulder strain in the second quarter. Rice left the game with 8:08 remaining in the third quarter and did not return. He had four points, one rebound and one assist. The Rockets were already without forward Maurice Taylor, who did not dress because of tightness in his Achilles'.
Sane - A few months ago the Rox hired Dave Macha from TIRR to help with Rehab and with "Pre"-hab also. Meaning that he's there to help the Rockets recover from, as well as to prevent injuries. The guy really knows his stuff. He worked for Russ Payne (Treats LOTS of pro athletes) and he helped me on my rehab from two separate ACL injuries to my left knee. So, I seriously doubt that his weight training has anything to do with his injury. And, regardless of the severity of this injury, he will be in excellent hands with Dave and Keith Jones. Fear not grasshopper, The Great Wall will be fine in time for his highly touted matchup with Shaq!!! The league will bring in a team of bionic surgeons to put him back together rather than miss out on all that ad money for that game.
He seems in pain. I wonder why the doc thinks X-Ray is not needed. Geez, this is their 18 million investment...
I don't think what you're seeing on his face is a grimace of pain. I think he has his eyes closed and the angle of his face makes it look a little like a frown.
BTW - Also. for anyone who doesn't know, the short guy in the foreground in picture #1 and behind Yao's head in pic #2 is Dr. Walter Lowe, the Rockets team surgeon. He did the last two surgeries on my knees and he rocks!! (no pun intended) I agree with what Kayman said about the initial treatment. He will probably given a couple days off just to be sure, but I doubt that he'll miss any games.
RRU, we've graduated from the same "school". I had my ACL done by Dr. Bruce Moseley (the other Rockets physician) and was rehabbed by Dave Macha and Russ Paine. I had the surgery the same day as Brent Price (iFeb or March of 1997) and we were rehabbing together.
Yao is listed in the Injury Report with "Twisted Knee" http://www.nba.com/rockets/news/Rockets_200203_Injury_Report-55410-34.html
Maybe's it's best that Yao misses one game. It would be nice to rest him up and make 100% sure that his knee is healed before facing Shaq. The rest and the recovery could really make a huge difference on the rest of the season. I sure hope he misses the next. Even without Yao, we have the talent to win games. If one of our F's heat up, then we can win.
What is up with everyone giving him time off? You know how many games this team played during the holidays. He has had enough time off. He needs to stop filming commercials on his day off. That's what he needs to do!
Question about Ming's injury to those medical professional fans here. How long would it take for Ming to recover from this? I think "sprained knee" at least needs one or two week to recover, and he has to be really careful with that afterwards because it's going to get hurt real easy, right?
<img src="http://photo.sohu.com/85/89/Img205678985.jpg"> "Gentlemen, we can rebuild him. We have the technology. We have the capability to build the world's first bionic man. Yao Ming Austin will be that man. Better than he was before. Better, stronger, faster... and while we're at it, let's increase his verticle leap."
I think this said something. Rest is not always good and necessary. Yao Ming with 3+ Days' Rest: 4 GP 20.5 Mins 38.5 FG% 6.5 Rebs 7.8 Pts
haha.. that's what I was wondering... maybe he went to get yao's laptop... yao is grimacing cause he can't wait to play counterstrike...he's dying to play! arrggggghhhhhhh!
