Re: Question for Kestas

["Shawn Niles" <shizzjr@hotmail.com>]

I couldn't agree with you more Kestas. I also suffered a bad ankle sprain 
while playing basketball. It was over a year and only after 6 months of 
physical therapy for my ankle that I could finally play again. Most people 
think of a sprain as something you can shake off in a few days. But a bad 
sprain is much more than that.


>From: Kestas <Kestutis.Kveraga@dartmouth.edu>
>To: celtics@igtc.com
>Subject: Re: Question for Kestas
>Date: Sun, 28 Oct 2001 10:12:40 -0500
>
>At 10:04 10/23/2001 -0400, you wrote:
> >Kestas,
> >
> >Presumably, you saw the Herald piece today about Battie's pain 
>management.
>
>Just got back from vacation and read it.
>
> >How bad is this ankle?  How could a sprain be a career-threatening 
>injury?
>
>Easily. I know "ankle sprain" gives this impression of a trivial injury to
>people who haven't experienced  a 2nd- or 3rd degree "ankle sprain".
>"Sprain" is actually a misnomer, because in the higher-degree sprains the
>ligaments are not simply stretched beyond their limits (resulting in
>microtears - thus "sprain"), but usually completely torn, often with bone
>damage. There's also accompanying damage to muscle tendons and muscles
>themselves and major trauma to the ankle joint. Since the ligaments
>stabilize the joint, making it move in its intended planes, and the muscles
>make it move so, you can see how it might be a problem, because such
>injuries take months and years to heal, if getting back to 80% of
>pre-injury function can be considered being healed.
>That's why when I was reading about Mike Miller's being back in action "in
>a couple of weeks" in the Orlando area press (I vacationed in Cocoa Beach),
>I was shaking my head ruefully at how naive these people are, given that
>Miller suffered a bad "sprain" with bone avulsion (basically, the ligaments
>tearing off the bone and taking chunks of  bone with them).
>It took 2 surgeries to allegedly repair Grant Hill's ankle, and now he
>sprained it without stepping on anything  - just running backwards.
>
> >More importantly, what is significant about the six month figure Battie
> >gives?
>
>IMO, it's just an arbitrary, hopeful figure. It may be more or less than
>that, depending on the particulars of Battie's injury and his healing
>abilities.  I still haven't fully recovered from a bad sprain that happened
>more than 2 years ago and, according to my ortho-surgeon, never will. If I
>were a professional athlete, it would be a career-ending injury, because I
>still can't run (let alone play basketball) on it without suffering pain
>and immobility for several days after it. I hope Battie is luckier.
>
>Kestas