TediVillasor.com

Before the pain

2nd of November 2009.

Subungual Hematoma is present underneath the nail of the left big toe

Down 16-8 in our three-on-three match up yesterday afternoon, I drove to the basket, pivoted, and made a fall away jumper off the glass to bring our deficit down to six.

However, when I planted my off (left) leg, I suddenly felt a pop. A pop that I didn’t really feel until I hosted my jumper.

I immediately dragged my leg, hobbling to the other end of the court, before coming to a complete stop and clutching my shoe and injured left big toe.

It’s been like this for the last six years.

On three different occasions.

Welcome to my basketball life.

“Injury…an athlete’s worse nightmare…” (Michael Jordan’s Playground)

Visions of Michael Jordan on the ground clutching his broken left foot come to mind when I think of this quote taken from this old Jordan video. It is a passage that speaks a volume of truth as when it comes to the topic of injury, no one is immune. It can hit anyone at any time, and yes, even to the great ones.

A couple of weeks ago, newly acquired New Orleans forward-center Emeka Okafor sat out all of his team’s Pre-Season games because of a “strained toe on his right foot.” It was an injury that was misunderstood by many as something minor. But in an interview with Yahoo! Sports’ Marc J. Spears, Okafor defended his cautious nature.

Spears shared:

“You can ask anyone that’s had a toe injury, it sounds super weak and it sounds like an insignificant thing,” Okafor said. “But that’s your foundation. You can have a nice house, and a foundation has a crack in it and then it’s all for naught. The whole thing comes crumbling down.

“People don’t realize how much your toe has to do with your movements. That’s carrying your whole weight. If something is off that carries your whole weight and you’re not careful, it’s something that can trickle and cause other things to mess up. The season is a marathon, not a sprint. You want to give your body a chance to not only heal short-term, but long-term.”

Now that WAS solid advice.

One that I didn’t take after initially injuring the same toe the day before yesterday.

Defining and treating an injured toenail

In a basketball setting, subungual hematoma (Sub pertaining to under and ungual for nail. While hematoma is the term used for a localized collection of blood.) usually occurs when a sudden change of movement forces the toenail(s) to jam into the shoe. The sudden impact then causes several small vessels to break, which then flood the nutrient bed with blood underneath the nail. A gradual shade (e.g., blue, black) then develops as the supply of nutrients needed to sustain the toenail are cut off—effectively killing a portion or the whole toenail.

In cases like mine, this sudden feeling can be likened to a “pop” or “feeling like the whole nail came off,” before the initial pain subsides. About an hour or two later, it may also be difficult to place pressure on the whole injured foot as doing so would cause pain to the toe–brought about by the trapped blood underneath the toenail. Numbness on the toe is also to be expected as well as pain to the injured toe if pressure is applied. This would pretty much rule out shoes for a while.

Possible remedies (depending on the extent of the damage) would include visiting a physician as soon as possible, “evacuating” the dead blood in the toenail via an incision or drilling a hole into the toenail, and in more extreme cases, the extraction of the toenail itself.

In the event of an extraction, prescribed antibiotics as well as regular application of topical medication is advised.

Remember, “fungus never takes a vacation and you shouldn’t either” when it comes to applying the topical cream.

Wish me luck at the doctor’s today…

Update:

3rd of November 2009.

After drilling two holes (or was it more?) into the toenail in order to evacuate the blood, the doctor seemed hopeful that the toenail could be saved.  I on the other hand, being a veteran of this injuries on two other occasions, am not that optimistic.

We will know in a week’s time.

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Now playing: Jars Of Clay – Love Came Down At Christmas
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Playing the peacemaker

Ford tore her ACL against the visiting Los Angeles Sparks

Do you recall Detroit Shock’s forward Cheryl Ford injuring her ACL a couple of years ago?

Well, it couldn’t have happened in a worst way.

She was a peacemaker.

While trying to restrain teammate Plenette Pierson during the confrontation against Candice Parker of the Los Angeles Sparks, the torn anterior cruciate ligament in Ford’s right knee finally buckled.

Here is the video of the aforementioned brawl.

Anterior Cruciate Ligament

The Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) is one of the four major and stabilizing ligaments in our knees. Studies have found that this type of injuries is common among athletes—especially women—due to a variety of reasons: hormonal, balance, posture, and genes. An ACL can be torn by way of a “sudden dislocation, torsion, or hyperextension of the knee.”

Basically, these type of injury can happen at anytime and anywhere—even outside the arena of sports—as I heard of a story wherein someone did tear their ACL after sitting down for a long time with their legs crossed.

In the National Basketball Association (NBA), Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) injuries have hit a number of players over the last twenty years. During their respective careers, Bernard King, Patrick Ewing Sr., and Ron Harper are just some athletes who have been able to return from this type of injury while surgical procedures were in its infancy all those years ago.

Other instances

Diagram of the knee

Probably the worst possible ACL injury occurred in February 2007 when former Los Angeles Clippers guard Shaun Livingston tore three of the four major ligaments in his knee on a breakaway drive in the first quarter against the Charlotte Bobcats. In contrast, Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) Minnesota Lynx point guard Lindsey Harding, the first overall pick in the 2007 WNBA draft, suffered a torn ACL in her left knee during a seemingly harmless drive against the Washington Mystics.

Just can’t get healthy

No player has suffered more ACL injuries than NBA forward Danny Manning. Manning was the top pick out of Kansas in 1988 who spent portions of his productive 15 year career with the Los Angeles Clippers, Atlanta Hawks, Phoenix Suns, Milwaukee Bucks, Utah Jazz, Dallas Mavericks, and Detroit Pistons; suffered three ACL injuries: injuring his right knee during his rookie year in a game against the Milwaukee Bucks (1/4/89), another in the left knee during a team practice in Phoenix (2/7/95), and re-injuring his right knee again two years later in Sacramento (4/7/98).

While in the WNBA, Rebecca Lobo, one of the most decorated collegiate and Olympic female basketball players of this generation, was also not spared of his injury. In the New York Liberty season opener against the defunct Cleveland Rockers (6/10/99), Lobo tore her left ACL 42 seconds into the contest. Six months later, she reinjured the same leg during a rehab session (12/16/99).

Karl "The Mailman" Malone was relatively injury-free for most of his career.

Exceptions to the rule

For every injured player, there are also exceptions and two players come to mind, Karl Malone (Utah Jazz and Los Angeles Lakers) and NBA Iron Man A.C. Green (Los Angeles Lakers, Phoenix Suns, Dallas Mavericks, and Miami Heat). Playing in 1,458 games in a career that spanned 19 years, Malone’s only significant injury came during his last and only year with the Los Angeles Lakers wherein he missed 39 games due to torn knee ligament. On the other hand, A.C. Green has never missed any significant time having played in 1,192 consecutive games (an NBA record).

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Now playing: Incognito – Everyday
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Talking about Camby got the ball rolling…

Recently injuries to Los Angeles Clippers Forward/Center Marcus Camby (knee) brought up a number of subjects (e.g., longevity of the playing careers of basketball players, player assessments, player trade/free agent movement, injuries, trades, etc.) during a recent chat I had with my cousin online.

We remember the good times when all of these players that we grew up watching and emulating were at their peak.

Here is an update on two of them.

1994.

Dallas rookie point guard Jason Kidd (1994)

Jason Kidd.

With the second pick in the 1994 NBA Draft, the Dallas Mavericks selected California guard Jason Kidd to run their offense that featured Jimmy Jackson and Jamal Mashburn. Kidd, who signed a six-year $60 million dollar rookie contract (those were the days before the NBA collective bargaining agreement regulated rookie salaries), didn’t take long to impress as he helped the Mavs improve that year by 23 wins. By the end of his rookie year, J-Kidd averaged 11.7 points, 5.4 rebounds, 7.7 assists per contest, and led the NBA in triple doubles with 4.

Grant Hill.

Drafting third overall were the Detroit Pistons who over the last few years had seen their team fall from the NBA’s elite after winning back-to-back NBA championships in 1989 and 1990. With Duke senior forward Grant Henry Hill, one of the most decorated collegiate players of his generation, the Pistons not only had a new cornerstone (who signed to a tune of eight-years, $45 million) to build under the guidance of veteran guard Joe Dumars, but also what was to become the face of the NBA for the next few years. Hill’s status was never more apparent than in that year’s NBA All-Star Game wherein he became the first rookie (in any of the four major sports—Basketball, Baseball, Football, and Hockey) to be the events top vote getter. Hill finished with averages of 19.9 points, 6.4 rebounds, 5.0 assists, 1.77 steals per game. As for triple-doubles, G.Hill didn’t match Kidd’s total but was able to post one against the Orlando Magic on April 7, 1995.

Detroit point forward Grant Hill (1994)

With their individual accomplishments (I can’t really say “AND team accomplishments” since the Pistons only had an 8-game improvement will Hill that year), both Jason Kidd and Grant Hill were named NBA co-rookie of the year—only the second duo (until Chicago’s Elton Brand and Houston’s Steve “Franchise” Francis turned the trick in 99’-00’) to capture the award after the Celtics’ Dave Cowens and Blazers’ Geoff Petrie did it 24 years earlier.

In their own right, both Jason Kidd and Grant Hill have had successful and highly lucrative careers. Kidd is third all-time in triple-doubles (netting 103 as of 4/15/2009), USA Basketball’s 2007 Male Athlete of the Year (going 56-0 lifetime when representing his country as of 2008), and has reached the NBA Finals twice in 2001 and 2002. On the other hand, Hill had been named to numerous NBA All-Star teams (even making the squad during the 2001 season in which he only participated in four regular season games), is one of only three players (the others being Elgin Baylor and the late Wilt “The Stilt” Chamberlain) to lead his team in scoring, rebounds, and assists on at least three occasions, and is generally a nice guy (having won the NBA’s Sportsmanship Award (2004, 2008) and the Magic Johnson Award (2006)).

But in my eyes, arguably the defining point in their respective careers is the element of injury from which no player is immune.

The Good.

After a French Fry throwing incident with his wife, Kidd has his mug shot taken.

In March of 2000, the Phoenix Suns’ Jason Kidd broke a bone in his left ankle with 2/10th’s of a second left in the first half of their game against the Sacramento Kings. Surgery ensued, and five weeks later, Kidd was back on the court for the Suns’ playoff run. Four years later, Kidd had microfracture surgery on his left knee in July 1st and returned five months later without any ill effects—which says a lot because a number of players have either retired (e.g., Terrell Brandon, Allan Houston, Kerry Kittles, Karl Malone, Jamal Mashburn, Bryon Russell, guard Alvin Williams, and Chris Webber), are unemployed (e.g., Anfernee “Penny” Hardaway), not really the same anymore (e.g., Matt Harping, Kenyon Martin (procedure on both knees in successive years), Eduardo Najera), or play like they never got hurt in the first place (e.g. the aforementioned Jason Kidd, Zach Randolph, Amare Stoudemire and the retired Hall of Famer John Stockton). (The jury is still out on Portland Trailblazer rookie Greg Oden and $111 million dollar man Gilbert “Hibachi” Arenas, so we will have to wait and see.)

The Bad.

Once Upon A Time...Collectors would have died for a chance to get Hill related swag.

Grant Hill. Once the poster boy for endurance (averaging 38.93 minutes a game during his first six years in the NBA), Hill’s health deteriorated after severely injuring his ankle during the 2000 playoffs while playing for the Detroit Pistons. The following year, the Orlando Magic’s new free agent acquisition had season-ending surgery to repair a broken medial malleolus (inside bone of left ankle) on Jan. 3 2001. A similar season-ending procedure was done 11 months later (Dec. 19, 2001) and the following season (2002-2003), Hill also missed a majority it before having surgery again on his bothersome left ankle which involved re-fracturing and re-aligning the ankle by re-shaping the heal on March 18, 2003.

Wikipedia.com shares that five days after the said procedure, “the unexpected happened: Hill developed a 104.5 °F (40.3 °C) fever and convulsions. He was immediately rushed to a hospital. Doctors removed the splint around his ankle and discovered that Hill had developed a staph infection, from which he nearly died. He was hospitalized for a week and had to take intravenous antibiotics for six months.”

Grant Hill then missed the entire 2003-2004 in order to rehabilitate his left ankle. Two years later, Hill’s ankle was fine but he still missed 61 games due to a sports hernia.

And the comparisons don’t stop there.

2009.

Entering the twilight of their careers, Kidd and Hill aren’t the same players that they once were.  But growing up watching these guys, they are still very much capable of giving us (the fans) yet another timeless moment.

Don’t blink.

Because it may just happen.

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Now playing: Tom Petty – Running Down a Dream
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