Kobe Bryant Says he has almost no Cartilage in his Knee

[pavementplmokn]

A veteran basketball player who has had knee surgery three times has knee problems, I don't believe it

What problems?

Because I have very little cartilage under my right knee cap, it’s almost bone on bone.

If this was true - if he had erosion of cartilage down to exposed subchondral bone, a grade IV injury - he'd be medically retired by now. I mean, he'd be past the opportunity of fixing it with microsurgery.

He's just making up stuff. He probably has some softening and swelling in the cartilage, like every other guy. That's what ice packs are for.

lolwut. This guy is trolling HARD right now

Trolling? This guy is the only one in the discussion that has brought any medical knowledge... Why is no one listening?

[menofvalor]

cool story old man.

[GeneWilderSTL]

Kobe's so impressive battling through injuries that would sideline most. What a legend. A living breathing legend. Secretly I wouldn't mind a year long NBA lockout if the rest benefited Kobe.

[LakerLegend]

Well, he's clearly exaggerating. Stuff like this happens when there's no cartilage:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKggO62YPs4[/youtube]

Not stuff like this:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzTDa3KdBc8[/youtube]

[Storm Surge]

Well, he's clearly exaggerating. Stuff like this happens when there's no cartilage:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKggO62YPs4[/youtube]

Not stuff like this:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzTDa3KdBc8[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RszYr7oKS_k[/youtube]

[Kingsforlife]

[mademan]

If this was true - if he had erosion of cartilage down to exposed subchondral bone, a grade IV injury - he'd be medically retired by now. I mean, he'd be past the opportunity of fixing it with microsurgery.

He's just making up stuff. He probably has some softening and swelling in the cartilage, like every other guy. That's what ice packs are for.

lolwut. This guy is trolling HARD right now

Trolling? This guy is the only one in the discussion that has brought any medical knowledge... Why is no one listening?

He's actually pretty dense if you ask me. As a practicing physician, it wouldn't be other worldly or even unordinary for an athlete to have some kind of degree of erosion of cartilage. It wouldn't have to be a grade IV injury as he put it as different patients have different amount of resistance to cartilage erosion.

[Slava]

Dam does this guy go a week without complaining? From fingers to hand, it never ends with Kobe.

He drops the bait in the water, knowing his fans will use it whenever his game goes south, usually follows it up with something like 'well you know me a little pain isn't going to stop me'

Funny thing in this article is the "I love practice" quote when it's coming out he's been skipping practice all year and only recently started practicing with the team.

http://blogs.hoopshype.com/blogs/lazenb ... es-lakers/

The coach and player agreed that due to the surgery and Bryant’s years of competing so hard, the star should carry a reduced load this season.

In Jackson’s mind, that meant curbing Bryant’s minutes on the floor during the regular season games.

In Bryant’s mind, that meant he wouldn’t practice much, or at all.

And so he didn’t. According to sources, Bryant spent the first months of the season lifting weights and shooting but doing no actual practicing with the team.

“Phil was surprised that Kobe wasn’t practicing,” explained an observer.

Surprised as he was, Jackson said nothing to Bryant because the highly successful coach would never actually stoop to that. “Phil’s not gonna ask anybody to do anything,” the observer said. “Phil prides himself on never having a confrontation.”

And people call Shaq lazy? He had the same excuses as Kobe. Injuries.

In Shaq's case it was the big toe or just being fat.

[basketball royalty]

How is this any different than Brandon Roy's case or is it not?

If I remember right, it was both knees for Roy. And I would assume Kobe's injury is from logging so many minutes over the years, while Roy's just seem to be an unfortunate event cause by a prior injury or something like that.

You don't lose meniscus over "logging so many minutes". It doesn't disappear like that. Roy had several arthroscopies and menisectomies (especially lateral ones) throughout years that lead to menisci loss and eventually cartilage degeneration (due to the lack of menisci).

If you bothered reading the article Dr. droponov you'd see that he has had a few surguries on that knee already over the past few years.

[qm22]

Kobe's knee problems are obviously true, but thanks to everyone for your armchair diagnosis. I guess watching Scrubs and Dr. House == a M.D. and a extraordinary M.D. that allows for diagnosis from simple reporter questions. Nobel prize breakthroughs really.


Look no further to the Thunder series when Kobe had his knee drained. You can easily see the difference in his play. Knee drains are risks which give short term benefits. You feel extremely great at first and have good function in the knee, but in the long run it leads to a worsening of the knee. I guess Kobe had his knees repeatedly drained throughout the playoffs so that he would have an excuse lined up for 3-peat troubles.

[Galis4]

How is this any different than Brandon Roy's case or is it not?

It doesn't sound much different at all, except that Kobe is in the later stages of his career and Roy is in the early stages of his.

I think he has 6 years more left, easily.

I can't really imagine NBA without Kobe.
I think i will cry if he leaves just like i cried when MJ left. Twice! In his last 2 retirements.

But that is for the long future thankfully.

[PolakFury]

Didn't see you mention the main part in that excerpt but here it is from the link:

Because I have very little cartilage under my right knee cap, it’s almost bone on bone.

Ouch.

In the name of Kobe Wow

[Nicky Nix Nook]

I hope it's not too painful for him when he hits 35, 36. As a Jazz fan, I remember Hornacek having some bone-on-bone issues, and though he didn't talk about it much, you could see how much it seemed to hurt some games.

Gonna be a sad day when Kobe finally retires. Unlike LeBron, who I just loathe as a human being, Kobe is a great "I love to hate you because you're too damn good" villain.

This. I'm a Kings fan and hate the Lakers, but I respect the hell out of Kobe. It will be a sad day when he retires, but a good day for the Pacific Division.

I

[LakerLegend]

Well, he's clearly exaggerating. Stuff like this happens when there's no cartilage:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKggO62YPs4[/youtube]

Not stuff like this:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzTDa3KdBc8[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RszYr7oKS_k[/youtube]

Not familiar with microfracture? It grows new cartilage.

[Galis4]

How is this any different than Brandon Roy's case or is it not?

I don't think Roy has any cartilage. Kobe only has a little left.

That's nosense. "Bone to bone" is an over-simplification.

For sure!
Bone-on bone hurts like hell all the time and even painkillers can't help you manage the pain in a satisfying degree. Playing basketball is of course out of the question.

I don't believe any of this. Kobe has a tendency to dramatize his own injuries. To play the "tough man" role and to bring injuries out of nowhere when he's underperforming.

Nobody loses that amount of meniscus without good reason. It's just medically impossible.

I guess that Kobe has lost some amount of his cartilage and he feels more pain when he puts big pressure on it by jumping high or doing intense footwork, but other than that he is clearly overreacting. Not that his knees are in great condition being this way, but he is not one step of becoming a cripple as the whole matter is presented.

[droponov]

Trolling? This guy is the only one in the discussion that has brought any medical knowledge... Why is no one listening?

He's actually pretty dense if you ask me. As a practicing physician, it wouldn't be other worldly or even unordinary for an athlete to have some kind of degree of erosion of cartilage. It wouldn't have to be a grade IV injury as he put it as different patients have different amount of resistance to cartilage erosion.

An athlete? I'd be surprised if a few of the posters here don't have some sort of knee osteoarthritis. Sure lots of NBA players have it - as I said, that's why they ice their knees as soon as they know they aren't going back into the game.

Now, I have no idea of how familiar you are with the outerbridge classification, but what Kobe claims - that he's bone-to-bone and "has almost no cartilage" - is a grade iv lesion. I haver no idea how you can say "it wouldn't have to be a grade IV injury". What could it be? So, even though I don't know enough to make a clear prognosis about the severity of Kobe's arthritis, I'm extremely confident that this particular claim of him is completely bogus. He wouldn't be playing basketball if it was true.

[mepatrick]

Stop making a big deal out of it with your medical ****.. no one cares.
Kobe's still playing at a high level and lets just wait until playoff time and see what happens.

[Basketology]

It really is amazing how Kobe is still playing great and at a high level, having one of his best seasons (top 2) in points per minutes. If he was playing Durant minutes, he'd be averaging over 32 points a game. Compared with the other aging superstars like Duncan, TMac, Vince, Shaq, Garnett, etc. he is still one of the top 1-5 players in the league which is incredible for how many minutes he has played and playing in 3 finals in a row. How many players in NBA history have played as many minutes as Kobe and been able to stay a top player? Not many.

[Pass the ball]

Kobe needs to be careful. It's admirable that he's playing through a myriad of injuries but pretty soon they might or god forbid will catch up to him.

[qm22]

It really is amazing how Kobe is still playing great and at a high level, having one of his best seasons (top 2) in points per minutes. If he was playing Durant minutes, he'd be averaging over 32 points a game. Compared with the other aging superstars like Duncan, TMac, Vince, Shaq, Garnett, etc. he is still one of the top 1-5 players in the league which is incredible for how many minutes he has played and playing in 3 finals in a row. How many players in NBA history have played as many minutes as Kobe and been able to stay a top player? Not many.

If Kobe were playing Durant minutes his efficiency would drop and so would his long term health. It is like saying if Shaq played Durant minutes he'd be over 20/10.

Also, if Durant played less minutes his efficiency would rise. When you are on the court 38+ MPG it is hard to be efficient compared to being at 32 MPG.