Amare Has Bulging Disc, Out 2-4 Weeks, Taking Epidural

[makeitstop]

There doesn't necessarily need to be a deliberate conspiracy... maybe the docs are just wrong. It happens a lot... see Eric Gordon this year who's on like his third consecutive "3-6 weeks' timetable.

And if it is intentional, one motivation might be to just soften the media blow. Announcing that Stat will miss another 4 weeks after already having missed 4 weeks would probably produce less of a media frenzy than announcing he's going to be out 8 weeks.

I'm more inclined to take the word of trained medical professionals than that of posters on message boards - especially in the event that a second opinion was sought out and obtained, which in this case it was.

As for softening the media blow - the media is going to publish whatever they want to publish, regardless of the reality of the situation. That's just how they roll, otherwise we would never have been bombarded with 'Will Melo adjust his game?' for weeks on end.

And in this particular case, I get the sense that dk feels someone is going to benefit by running an elaborate ruse on Knicks fans. I'm just wondering who dk thinks the beneficiaries might be.

[johnnywishbone]

I love how what is great news - that the injury is not serious enough to require surgery. And that Amar'e will be playing again this year has been spun into another doom and gloom scenario by a bunch of "fans".

I now know why it was necessary to create a short hand for shut the **** up.

yeah. There are certain users that need to be banned. They wait for something to happen they can post negatively about. They are fans of trolling and simply laugh at people trying to talk sense into them and are not fans of the team.


Back on topic. If the Knicks make the playoffs I would suggest that they ease Amare back. Give him 20 minutes off the bench until we see he is effective and increase minutes accordingly.

I feel that some of the people in here are like the villagers in this scene from the movie "The Holy Grail":

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yp_l5ntikaU[/youtube]

[Jmonty580]

Anyone in here have any real medical back ground that can add any real facts to anything?

Somebody who said they were a doctor who was familiar with this type of injury said Amare should be fine and could be back in a few weeks a few pages back. That was before the official timetable came out.

Thanks for the recap, i'd take the doctors word on that.

[K_ick_God]

There doesn't necessarily need to be a deliberate conspiracy... maybe the docs are just wrong. It happens a lot... see Eric Gordon this year who's on like his third consecutive "3-6 weeks' timetable.

And if it is intentional, one motivation might be to just soften the media blow. Announcing that Stat will miss another 4 weeks after already having missed 4 weeks would probably produce less of a media frenzy than announcing he's going to be out 8 weeks.

I'm more inclined to take the word of trained medical professionals than that of posters on message boards - especially in the event that a second opinion was sought out and obtained, which in this case it was.

As for softening the media blow - the media is going to publish whatever they want to publish, regardless of the reality of the situation. That's just how they roll, otherwise we would never have been bombarded with 'Will Melo adjust his game?' for weeks on end.

And in this particular case, I get the sense that dk feels someone is going to benefit by running an elaborate ruse on Knicks fans. I'm just wondering who dk thinks the beneficiaries might be.

What "softening of the media blow" would there be if the media got wind of the fact that they were lied to?

I'd say "media firestorm" is more like it.

[bigfnjoe96]

Great news... Knowing STAT the minute he's given the go to resume basketball related activities, he will be working hard to get back.

For now get your rest big-fella.

[K_ick_God]

New article about it:

The New York Knicks hope to have Amar'e Stoudemire back before the end of the season after a second doctor said he won't need surgery on the bulging disk in his back. The Knicks said Wednesday they expect Stoudemire to miss about two to four weeks while getting treatment.

That could allow Stoudemire to return before the regular season ends April 26. "That's always good news," Anthony said. "I just want him to be healthy, that's the most important thing for him. For us, we just want him to be healthy."

http://www.nba.com/2012/news/03/28/knic ... ef:nbahpt2

[dk7th]

believe what you want.

a muscle pull-- if that is what it was-- is neither the same type of injury nor nearly so bad as a bulging disc. the former is not structural while the latter certainly is. but the former can well be a precursor to the latter.

also going to miami to get a second opinion from an "impartial" doctor when you are from miami in the first place is weird. why not get the best medical attention in the world right here in new york city? doctors can be yes men despite the hippocratic oath. it is a suspicious course of action.

any disc that has been dislodged-- bulging or herniated-- from between the vertebrae will never quite be the same. the same phenomenon can be seen with dislocated shoulders. the injury is likely to repeat.

So, to boil this down...

You're saying that Amare Stoudemire, the Knicks' medical staff (and ownership, management and front office, for that matter) and a independent doctor in Florida, are complicit in a plot to get Amare Stoudemire - now even more seriously injured than he was when he sat out the playoffs - back into the lineup in 2-4 weeks, so he can...

do what, exactly?

- Ruin the remainder of his career by playing with a worse injury than the one that made him sit out the playoffs?
- Jeopardize the Knicks' chances to advance in said playoffs?
- Or maybe just mess with the heads of the haters who have declared him dead since the day he got here?

Is that what you're saying? Because if it's not what you're saying, you're gonna have to explain it to me. It's still not making any kind of sense from any barely rational viewpoint.

as i said you are free to believe what you want. but this is not the first time in history that people associated with one another concerning a particular person have spun things in as positive light as possible and done damage control. to what end? to give the people --the fanbase-- something to hope for. hope sells.

i have observed that many of us around here pick and choose when the media or spokespeople are lying or not. when they say something that bolsters hope they must be right. when they say something that you don't agree with or does not give hope they must be wrong or bad at what they do or clowns, etc. etc.

i am at least consistent in one thing which is that i rarely give that much credence to media or spokespeople. why should i? i gave myself permission a while ago to use my life experience and hard-won understanding on human affairs to arrive at conclusions or make predictions.

if amare manages to make it back AND remains healthy then i will be happily proven wrong and extremely happy for him and for the knicks. but i am not counting on that happening.

i don't know who the amare haters are around here. everyone was happy he came here, though some were expecting him to develop his game to make others around him better. that was certainly my expectation-- that he did not live up to that expectation, in my opinion a reasonable one-- does not make me a hater.

[makeitstop]

What "softening of the media blow" would there be if the media got wind of the fact that they were lied to?

I'd say "media firestorm" is more like it.

No doubt.

And I know I probably look stubborn on this point - but the media being 'lied to' just gets back to the whole conspiracy angle, that this was cooked up by Stat and the med staff, front office and that doctor in Florida with some sort of specific gain in mind.

Cui bono?

[K_ick_God]

Another new article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/29/sport ... basketball

[makeitstop]

as i said you are free to believe what you want. but this is not the first time in history that people associated with one another concerning a particular person have spun things in as positive light as possible and done damage control. to what end? to give the people --the fanbase-- something to hope for. hope sells.

So it's your contention that if it was announced that Stoudemire was out for the season, that there would be no reason for hope and fans would abandon the team?

Sorry, I have a hard time buying that. And I have a feeling that Carmelo Anthony, Tyson Chandler and Jeremy Lin (and the rest of the team and the NYK fan base) might get my back on this one.

On edit: Having had a few minutes to think a little further about your reasoning for this conspiracy, I'm struck by the abject cynicism of thinking a team needs to 'sell' hope to keep fan interest.

Isn't hope the very basis of being a sports fan? What the hell else is there?

Every fan goes into a new season hoping that their team will do well. Fans tune into games in the hope that their team will win.

Like you said to me, you can believe what you want. But the thought of a team having to gin up hope among their fans to keep them on board is making my head swim here. You can keep that cynicism, I choose to root for my team to do well without assuming they're lying to me.

[johnnywishbone]

Another new article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/29/sport ... basketball

Meanwhile, Jared Jeffries is out for at least another week to 10 days because of a sore right knee.

****, he'll never be the same. Once you are injured your career is over. Especially, if you have the same initial in both your first and last names.

[AmazingJason]

I don't think there's a conspiracy going on, lol, but I also would take even a trained medical professional's opinion with a grain of salt. I've been personally misdiagnosed and given poor advice by "doctors," but was fortunate enough to solve things on my own with alternative and natural methods. Doesn't mean they're useless, but it doesn't mean they know all of the answers, either. That's why Phoenix's training staff has so much success taking care of their players; they're not afraid to utilize an alternative way of thinking that works. At this juncture, all we can do is wait and see...

[AmazingJason]

To me, the biggest concern is that his original back injury took so long for him to rehab and recover from. Then, he played badly for most of the year and once he started to open up his game and pick up his play, he suffers another injury in the same area. I worry that anytime he wants to play like the old Amare that his lower back is going to act up again...

[K_ick_God]

To me, the biggest concern is that his original back injury took so long for him to rehab and recover from. Then, he played badly for most of the year and once he started to open up his game and pick up his play, he suffers another injury in the same area. I worry that anytime he wants to play like the old Amare that his lower back is going to act up again...

It's a fair concern -- and you're stating it in a balanced and open way. There's no certainty or pompous confidence to what you're saying either way and that makes it reasonable. I think we're all concerned that Amar'e will stay healthy. All of us are and should be -- does old Amar'e = back problems? We'll find out.

The thing that doesn't make sense is people pronouncing it more likely than not that Amar'e is done, etc., and arrogantly telling everybody else to lower their expectations and expect failure. I guess it's almost more a matter of tone and people being in love with their own negativity than anything.

But yeah, I have the same concerns and they're rational ones.

[vallen]

Knicks PR doing Damage control as usual.

Hope its not the usual smoke screen.

[dk7th]

any disc that has been dislodged-- bulging or herniated-- from between the vertebrae will never quite be the same. the same phenomenon can be seen with dislocated shoulders. the injury is likely to repeat.

Do you have any medical degree or any basis to say that a disk problem is equivalent to a dislocated shoulder?

i have both an empirical and experiential basis: dale davis had a chronic issue with a dislocated shoulder that kept popping out. one of my former employees couldn't quite make it in AA baseball because of a recurring dislocated shoulder issue. a good friend of mine has had surgeries on both shoulders because of dislocations.

i have known more than several back pain sufferers who played ball or who didn't play ball who kept getting sidelined with the same disc issues. most often it just happened innocuously without even much or any contact. i herniated the L4-L5 merely bending over to tie a shoelace.

you ask if they are the "same." that's not really a valid question. "dislocation" and "herniation" are differing terms but their pathology is much the same. when the tissue is dislodged from its natural origin the area it's never the same.

[johnnywishbone]

any disc that has been dislodged-- bulging or herniated-- from between the vertebrae will never quite be the same. the same phenomenon can be seen with dislocated shoulders. the injury is likely to repeat.

Do you have any medical degree or any basis to say that a disk problem is equivalent to a dislocated shoulder?

i have both an empirical and experiential basis: dale davis had a chronic issue with a dislocated shoulder that kept popping out. one of my former employees couldn't quite make it in AA baseball because of a recurring dislocated shoulder issue. a good friend of mine has had surgeries on both shoulders because of dislocations.

i have known more than several back pain sufferers who played ball or who didn't play ball who kept getting sidelined with the same disc issues. most often it just happened innocuously without even much or any contact. i herniated the L4-L5 merely bending over to tie a shoelace.

you ask if they are the "same." that's not really a valid question. "dislocation" and "herniation" are differing terms but their pathology is much the same. when the tissue is dislodged from its natural origin the area it's never the same.

First of all that is called anecdotal evidence. Second of all he doesn't have a herniated disc. Finally, as long as we are speaking anecdotally I've known several people who have had the shot Stat is going to get and they felt great afterwards.

[GONYK]

Do you have any medical degree or any basis to say that a disk problem is equivalent to a dislocated shoulder?

i have both an empirical and experiential basis: dale davis had a chronic issue with a dislocated shoulder that kept popping out. one of my former employees couldn't quite make it in AA baseball because of a recurring dislocated shoulder issue. a good friend of mine has had surgeries on both shoulders because of dislocations.

i have known more than several back pain sufferers who played ball or who didn't play ball who kept getting sidelined with the same disc issues. most often it just happened innocuously without even much or any contact. i herniated the L4-L5 merely bending over to tie a shoelace.

you ask if they are the "same." that's not really a valid question. "dislocation" and "herniation" are differing terms but their pathology is much the same. when the tissue is dislodged from its natural origin the area it's never the same.

So...no

[Pharmcat]

didnt know there were so many orthapedic back specialists on this board

lets just see how he recovers and performs,at least lets see how the epidural helps him

[MigrainePatrol]

I have a feeling this Amar'e earlier lackadaisical play was because he was nursing this ailment. He eventually said **** it and played more all out. This might be mean, but I'd rather him not have gotten over his brother's death than this. Now we know what was really up with Amar'e all season long. Just sux.