The team doctors are insane.

[T_mac_4eva]

First they stuffedup tracy's knee and now we findout our co franchise player has been playing with a stress fracture for 3 whole weeks?. had they made yao sit out as soon as he got the fracture, it may have not cost him he's season.?. the doctors for our team have a pretty bad track record for this season anyway.

[dontel]

i think part of the blame goes to yao, he shouldve told the doctors that he's feeling the pain o the 1st place, if the doctors didnt pay much attention to it then he shouldve just MRI himself!

[Iggyemu]

All these injuries...yea I think its good to question em. It may not be their fault but we have had so many injuries to these two guys you wonder what these docs are doing.

[TMU]

Keith Jones is behind this conspiracy. Fire his ass.

[CJballa14]

It takes up to a month to discover you even have the type of injury Yao recieved. The Dr.'s are saying its good they found it pretty early(2 weeks). It could hve been longer and could have been a lot worse by then. They did everything they could.

[YaoisGodsAnswer]

Why don't they fire Keith Jones, I mean he is in charge of multi-millionaire assets, he should check them out everyday.

[T_mac_4eva]

Well at first they diaognosed it as a " Sprained ankle, but two weeks later , there saying it's a stress fracture. it's the same thing with mcgrady's knee. it's very unprofessional.

[texasholdem]

what i didn't like was the doctor comparing Yao to that loser wife beater Jerome Mathis. Even if it's medically accurate, it's just tempting fate to mention Yao in the same sentence as an athlete who was perpetually injured.

[McTracy]

First of all I still can't belive in this news....But the difference with Tracy and Yao is that Tracy will go out for 10-15 games and Yao will go out for 3-4 months.

He shouldn't have played in the All STare Game and in National China Team. His feet are too weak.

Unbelivable........But didn't he play with that injury against Hornets and Bulls? So can't he rest now and come back for PO?

[Amel]

this could be a mistake on the medical staff side

if they knew that he had pain in his leg, they should have done more extensive checkups...Yao is a special case and needs extra check ups due to his size

[MaxRider]

the doctor is not going to know anyting about Yao unless Yao go tell them and do the MRI

[McTracy]

the doctor is not going to know anyting about Yao unless Yao go tell them and do the MRI

Right. And we need to remember Yao is 7'6

[realfung]

Now you can expect a Orlando Magic team with T-Mac jacking up 40 pts a night but losing 13 games in a row.

[BaYBaller]

Stress fractures are very minute. They start out as microscopic cracks which compound into an actual fracture over time. You can't normally see small stress fractures in a MRI, you have to use a CT scan. The medical staff did a MRI on his ankle on the onset of symptoms. When symptoms did not go away after 2 weeks they opted for the CT scan, where they found the small fracture. Stress fractures are usually found months after onset of symptoms.

Honestly, I believe that Yao could have delayed surgery and rest the remainder of the regular season (to reduce the swelling in his ankle) and then play in the playoffs with the stress fracture if he really, really wanted to. Players have played through stress fractures before. However if he did that he would not be able to recover in time for the Beijing Olympics, which is his #1 priority.

[grond]

Honestly, I believe that Yao could have delayed surgery and rest the remainder of the regular season (to reduce the swelling in his ankle) and then play in the playoffs with the stress fracture if he really, really wanted to. Players have played through stress fractures before. However if he did that he would not be able to recover in time for the Beijing Olympics, which is his #1 priority.

Now there's an interesting theory. Intuitively, it makes sense, but the only caveat is that the bone is in the foot and hence perhaps more fragile/functionally important to movement in general. Something the doctor said in the press conference - like 'we caught it before the bone started forking' or something like that - made me think that having Yao play any more ball just wasn't worth the risk of further damaging the bone.

From my own experience (had a stress fracture in lower leg), you can play through the initial symptoms of soreness (which i did), but once the fracture is actually there, playing is just impossible - too much immediate pain.

I guess in the absence of any hoops-lovin doctors that also frequent internet chat boards, we're stuck with having to take the Rockets' crew at their word.

[Texas Longhorns]

I can't say they haven't done a great job, because T-Mac and Yao have played basketball again. That's all you need from the doctor, what more can you ask for? It's not like they caused the injury. You could have asked any other doctor and it would have been the same result. Don't blame the Rocket's medical staff for what has happened to Yao or T-Mac in these past few years.

[BaYBaller]

-= original quote snipped =-



Now there's an interesting theory. Intuitively, it makes sense, but the only caveat is that the bone is in the foot and hence perhaps more fragile/functionally important to movement in general. Something the doctor said in the press conference - like 'we caught it before the bone started forking' or something like that - made me think that having Yao play any more ball just wasn't worth the risk of further damaging the bone.

I believe the comment about the 'forking' was if the fracture got big enough that it caused the bone to grow as 2 separate bones (and thus never healing completely without surgery). I think he could technically play through it, but it would worsen the condition and cause risks to his long-term health, so obviously it isn't worth it in the long-run.

[Tmaco]

the doctor is not going to know anyting about Yao unless Yao go tell them and do the MRI

Yeap!!