Lower extremity injuries sideline some of America's best basketball stars

This season was a rough one for some of the NBA’s top players, leaving stars like Derrick Rose, Dwayne Wade, Dwight Howard, and Chris Bosh out of play due to injury. Whether it was the increased playing time over a compressed NBA season due to labor issues or simply the always-present aggressiveness of play, these athletes experienced how basketball can take a toll on the body.

Let’s meet our ATI Injury Analyst: Former varsity basketball player Dan Sturgeon, DPT, is a physical therapist, orthopedic certified specialist, and the clinic director at our Fox Valley clinic in Aurora, Illinois. He weighed in on some of the most common injuries in the sport…

What types of injuries are common…

• Lower extremity injuries including knee and ankle sprains, meniscus tears, and ACL tears. Dan said the severity can range from a minor sprain to a severe tear, as in Derrick Rose’s case. Minor cases will typically heal on their own in one to two weeks; a moderate tear could keep you out of the game for four to eight weeks; and a severe case can take up to a year or more to heal.

Prevention and treatment…

• Crosstraining is key:  Dan noted that movements in basketball tend to be very specific. Therefore, if your body is only used to those activities, any deviation of movement can increase risk for injury. However, with cross-training you’re building total-body fitness. He recommends running and swimming.
• Plyometrics get you back into play: Plyometrics, quick sports-specific movements such as jumping and side-to-side mobility that train the body how to control itself with those movements, can help reduce the risk of injury. Other therapy   involves improving range of motion, strength, and balance control.
• Take a day off: Dan suggests basketball players plan days of rest for recovery so that they can stay on the court all season long.
• Stretch and ice: Stretching before and after practice, as well as icing any troubled areas after a long practice or big game, can help keep the muscles loose.