Marcus Smart injury question

[rollie mass]

The quad and calf injury can they somehow be related to the oblique tear.??

[Hoopvortex]

The quad and calf injury can they somehow be related to the oblique tear.??

I love this kind of question.

It's possible.

How one injury can lead to another comes from one or both of: 1) Restriction that builds up during the healing process, limiting the travel of a muscle and therefore the bones it's moving; 2) A habit of favoring - not using, or limiting the range of a muscle that causes pain when it's contracted, which then becomes habitual even after it's healed.

Obliques rotate the spine and ribs, or to be more precise they maintain the relationship between pelvis and spine/ribs. As such they are active in straight-ahead running, where the pelvis rotates and rocks as you alternate legs, while the spine does the same; and even more active when you are moving laterally or changing direction frequently.

That means that restriction or favoring of a healed oblique may make running more asymmetrical (even pro athletes seldom have really good symmetry); you could easily imagine using quads to make up the difference, leading to increased load on them on one side, leading to strain, blah blah.

As I say, it's possible, but on the other hand there are just too many factors involved to draw a straight line.

It is fair to say in general that any injury to a pro athlete makes further injuries more likely. Gordon Hayward got through last year without anything catastrophic happening, which is a good sign for him this season (DeMarcus Cousins did, too, but his offseason wasn't so lucky).

Athletes who function more asymmetrically are more likely to get injured, and injuries tend to add to more asymmetry, making the kind and extent of rehab critical. I believe that Cousins came back too early, and it cost him.

Boston has a good track record of drafting players with good symmetry coming in - Jayson Tatum stands out, as does Carsen Edwards this year. (This is another good reason, by the way, to have passed on Fultz and Lonzo).

[rollie mass]

TP and thank you.
I don't think Marcus does himself any favours when he does those flip ups from an almost prone position

I would have thought Carsen Edwards with his bowed muscular quads would have had poor symmetry.?

Seeing I got you here
.I have noticed a unusually high rate of injuries from high draft picks and thought it is maybe their youth and need to push themselves against grown men. Gordon, Parker ,Exum ,Embid, Simmons ,Randall, Noel, ,Marcus, these are just a few that didn't last their 1st year.

Then there is the positive of holding back Robert Williams and his knee condition.

[Hoopvortex]

TP and thank you.
I don't think Marcus does himself any favours when he does those flip ups from an almost prone position

I would have thought Carsen Edwards with his bowed muscular quads would have had poor symmetry.?

Seeing I got you here
.I have noticed a unusually high rate of injuries from high draft picks and thought it is maybe their youth and need to push themselves against grown men. Gordon, Parker ,Exum ,Embid, Simmons ,Randall, Noel, ,Marcus, these are just a few that didn't last their 1st year.

Then there is the positive of holding back Robert Williams and his knee condition.

I hear you about Carsen. But look how he squares up - it's just a thing of beauty how he evens out his two sides; and he seems to move laterally equally well to left and to right. Good handles with both hands, seems to move both ways.

Great point about Robert Williams. I haven't heard anyone remark on the improvement of his body. Now if he can start consistently getting himself into a defensive stance with flexed knees!