HALLELUKA: Luka Clinches All-NBA 1st team. 4th in 5 years

[omahen]

Cato had an extensive interview with some MD yesterday. One part basically saying that controlled movements are actually good to heal this kind of injury. In any case I am sure Mavs have top proffessionals who know very well what they are doing. The only problem really is a premature return and possible reinjury (or worse injury). Here is where risk might be taken hoping for the best. Another piece on this below in the second part. Of course with all the disclaimers they are just guessing. 

[b]I was talking to my podcast cohost, Dave DuFour, who read studies on calf injuries when he suffered a similar injury. He told me the medical understanding is that this is an injury that benefits and heals from increased loads. What does that mean in this case?[/b]

You want to load in a way that is going to help benefit how the muscle is actually used. When our body lays down scar tissue to fill in the gaps of the damage that has occurred, it doesn’t necessarily do it in a way that is always organized. When you load (the muscle), you can influence those patterns. 

[b]Would this get to a point where it’s an aspect of pain tolerance?[/b]

It can. The things that make some of these lower-extremity muscle injuries tricky is that once the scar tissue is down and those gaps are filled, many athletes report that they feel pretty good. As long as the medical staff feels the tissue has appropriately healed, there might be a little bit of discomfort, but what you don’t want is for the athlete to go out there prematurely with that scar tissue still not being as strong as normal muscle tissue. Then, when an athlete tries to make a normal movement, they disrupt that scar tissue. You basically press reset on the healing process.


Understanding Luka Doncic’s calf strain and recovery timeline, per an NBA injury expert – The Athletic