Gerald Henderson's Wrist

[bjornolf]

but given the deterioration of both their games (Henderson in particular...you can almost follow an exponential decline curve on his game since the injury), I can't see how it could hurt. With GH's trouble as of late, even if he comes back the same as he is now, I don't see how the team would have lost much in the intervening time. If it gives LT and BZ more pt to improve, it might help that way, kind of like other parts of the team got better when Boozer (I think it was CB, somebody correct me if I'm wrong on that...)went down and was stellar when he returned.

I just worry sometimes that if they tell a player that playing won't hurt it more, the player is so eager to get out there and play that it overrides good judgment. What if playing won't hurt it more, but two weeks off would make it 90-100% healed? Which way is better? I realize that this might not be the case here, but having played college football, I HAVE seen cases like that several times. 9 out of 10 times, the player is so juiced up about playing, they let it get the better of them. Heck, I've been guilty of it before. In fact, I've done it both ways, and while it was hard, sitting while healing up was the better play, for me anyway. It's hard for a player to sit when he'd physically capable of playing, and it's hard for a coach to sit an enthusiastic player who is physically capable of playing, but sometimes, it's the better call. Like I said, I certainly can't say that for sure sitting here now, but I hope the team has at least looked at all the options. I know it sounds silly, but sometimes even the best teams don't. Sometimes, if the player is capable of playing and won't hurt it more and wants to play, he plays, even if a couple weeks off would do a world of good.

[Matches]

I dunno.. you make a fair point of course... but if they're NOT the type of injuries that will be aggravated by playing, or that will heal with time off, I'd rather they be out there. I'd rather have 40% of Henderson than NO Henderson.

[CDu]

Smith is one game removed from arguably his best game of the season, so I don't think his game has deteriorated due to injury. I agree about Henderson's ineffectiveness being directly linked to the injury.

The question with Henderson is whether or not rest will help more than playing. It's a wrist injury, which doesn't necessarily affect his ability to play defense. If it's only affecting his ability to finish in the lane (his free throw stroke looks really good right now, so I don't know that it is affecting his shot), then who's to say that rest will be much more of a help?

[CMS2478]

I dunno.. you make a fair point of course... but if they're NOT the type of injuries that will be aggravated by playing, or that will heal with time off, I'd rather they be out there. I'd rather have 40% of Henderson than NO Henderson.

I agree with you that if it is not something that is going to heal with time off, then why sit. However, the way he has played the last three games I would feel better with Scheyer seeing the bulk of the minutes as he did last night. Henderson is playing very timid and if he is hurt that bad then he needs to sit. He looked very timid and scared last night and they either need to sit him or he needs to play aggressive. I don't mean that as a knock on him, bc I don't know the extent of the injury, but if you are going to play...then PLAY!!! If not we need Scheyer or King or someone who can go 100%. At this point 40% of Henderson is hurting the team, not helping.

[Matches]

Hendo only played 19 minutes last night. If he doesn't regain his effectiveness soon I think you'll see his minutes decrease to around 12-15, with Nolan perhaps getting some of those.

[greybeard]

Wrists are wiley rascals. I hurt mind crankin a drive once; really ripped it and my body lagged behind a bit.

Had the top hand and wrist guy in the DC area. The guy tried everything for a period of like 6 months; immobilization, cortizone, physical therapy, immobization, etc. Never would take an MRI. Said it wouldn't do any good; that he would try to help the pain go away by non surgical means. Only reason for MRI was if surgery was the only option, which he explained would not be good.

It stopped hurting after about six months; does it function the same way as before. I don't hit em anywhere near as long, but that's another story.

Morale of the story: probably the doctors best guess is that there is no percentage for a quick fix, so he plays out the season. In his case, I'm sure that they have done an MRI to see what's what, but that belies the question of what it will take for the pain to stop.

[SilkyJ]

Wrists are wiley rascals. I hurt mind crankin a drive once; really ripped it and my body lagged behind a bit.

Had the top hand and wrist guy in the DC area. The guy tried everything for a period of like 6 months; immobilization, cortizone, physical therapy, immobization, etc. Never would take an MRI. Said it wouldn't do any good; that he would try to help the pain go away by non surgical means. Only reason for MRI was if surgery was the only option, which he explained would not be good.

It stopped hurting after about six months; does it function the same way as before. I don't hit em anywhere near as long, but that's another story.

Morale of the story: probably the doctors best guess is that there is no percentage for a quick fix, so he plays out the season. In his case, I'm sure that they have done an MRI to see what's what, but that belies the question of what it will take for the pain to stop.

Thats unfortunate. I don't know much about wrist injuries, but it sounds like there is no quick fix so there is little point in resting him.

My only experience with wrist injuries is that once I very mildly sprained my wrist once when I landed on it directly after getting undercut playing ball. I bought one of those splint like things at a sporting goods store and was good to go after a week...sounds like each one is unique and we can only assume that K & Co. know what they are doing.

[greybeard]

Thats unfortunate. I don't know much about wrist injuries, but it sounds like there is no quick fix so there is little point in resting him.

My only experience with wrist injuries is that once I very mildly sprained my wrist once when I landed on it directly after getting undercut playing ball. I bought one of those splint like things at a sporting goods store and was good to go after a week...sounds like each one is unique and we can only assume that K & Co. know what they are doing.

You heal good Silky; some things are priceless.

[HDB]

Does anyone know exactly how the Henderson injury occurred? I've read that it happened against UNC, but I don't recall any specific incident.

[DukeDevilDeb]

Does anyone know exactly how the Henderson injury occurred? I've read that it happened against UNC, but I don't recall any specific incident.

I think it occurred when he blocked Ginyard's shot.

[mapei]

I don't think the question is whether rest will help G's injury. The real question is whether we are better off with him coming off the bench for limited minutes only. And, right now, the answer to that seems to be an unqualified yes.

Of course, if playing risks hurting him or resting might help some (things I find very likely, as a veteran of wrist injuries myself), then it might be better to sit him altogether.

[bjornolf]

I'd have to at least partially agree with what mapei said. I've had 12 wrist injuries varying from cysts to tendinitis to mild sprains to severe sprains to hyper-extensions to twists playing everything from tennis to squash to basketball to volleyball to rugby to baseball to throwing shotput. About the only thing I HAVEN'T done to my right wrist is breaking it. I have yet to see a wrist or ankle injury (I've had more sprained and twisted and torn ankles than I can count) on myself or a friend that rest wouldn't help at least somewhat. Yes, there are some that playing won't hurt further, but I haven't seen one that rest won't help at least somewhat. I'm sure there is one out there somewhere, but I haven't seen it or heard of it. Any orthopedists out there?

[OldPhiKap]

The Duke team probably has a doctor who can answer these questions. Maybe K should call him and find out.

[UrinalCake]

The Duke team probably has a doctor who can answer these questions. Maybe K should call him and find out.

Seriously people, I mean it's fun to speculate about the team and to talk about these guys like we're all friends and such, but put a little faith in the fact that Coach K and the medical staff know what they're doing. Does anyone really think that K would sacrifice the team's ability to perform in the tournament in order to win some games now?

[bjornolf]

Seriously people, I mean it's fun to speculate about the team and to talk about these guys like we're all friends and such, but put a little faith in the fact that Coach K and the medical staff know what they're doing. Does anyone really think that K would sacrifice the team's ability to perform in the tournament in order to win some games now?

but unless you've played for a major college or athletic program, you don't understand how it works. A LOT of it is left up to the players. 90% of athletes would play with a broken leg if they could. It's what makes them great. If it's one of those 50/50 things, even if rest would help, they usually let the player decide. And the player will NEVER choose to sit. Medical tests are advanced and they're great in general, but they can't tell the doctor or coach how it is affecting a player. A tendon can swell up very painfully or even just not work right at all, but it can go down before a test can be done and you'll never know. Only the player knows how it affects him/her in game, and with the adrenaline flowing, sometimes THEY can't even tell. I know that K wouldn't do that, but the player might without even realizing it. I have 100% faith in K and the medical staff at Duke. My faith suffers when you ask me to trust a kid, heck, ANY athlete, to sit himself. Just look at all the NFL players that played through concussions and can't function now. They constantly have interviews about how they'd black out in the middle of practice and just thought it was normal and they'd play through it, not wanting to be called sissies. And now they have permanent brain damage. I realize that won't happen to GH. My point is just that if grown men will do that to themselves, you can't expect a kid to know the difference.

[bjornolf]

but after I mostly tore my MCL and knicked my ACL my first month of my freshman year playing on the scout team for the varsity football team, I went through some nasty rehab and finished out the end of the season on the club team. Realizing that I would never make it on varsity, I switched and was a pretty good player on the club team for 3+ seasons. My knee wasn't too much of a problem after that first season, but I've ALWAYS had bad ankles. Anyway, there were weeks when I'd be on crutches on Monday-Thursday, then I'd get out my 800 mg Motrin bottle I had gotten at the student health center, pop about 5 of those suckers, practice Friday, and pop 5 more to play that weekend. I'd barely be able to get to class on Monday, but I played. And that was for CLUB football. It's not like I was playing to make the NFL and make the big bucks. I did similar things in high school when I tore my rotator cuff in my right shoulder to stay on the varisty squash or baseball team. How much more must GH want to play than I did?

[Acymetric]

but after I mostly tore my MCL and knicked my ACL my first month of my freshman year playing on the scout team for the varsity football team, I went through some nasty rehab and finished out the end of the season on the club team. Realizing that I would never make it on varsity, I switched and was a pretty good player on the club team for 3+ seasons. My knee wasn't too much of a problem after that first season, but I've ALWAYS had bad ankles. Anyway, there were weeks when I'd be on crutches on Monday-Thursday, then I'd get out my 800 mg Motrin bottle I had gotten at the student health center, pop about 5 of those suckers, practice Friday, and pop 5 more to play that weekend. I'd barely be able to get to class on Monday, but I played. And that was for CLUB football. It's not like I was playing to make the NFL and make the big bucks. I did similar things in high school when I tore my rotator cuff in my right shoulder to stay on the varisty squash or baseball team. How much more must GH want to play than I did?

Anyone watch Friday Night Lights recently? (the movie, not the show that I have to assume is awful even though I never saw it.)

[ugadevil]

Anyone watch Friday Night Lights recently? (the movie, not the show that I have to assume is awful even though I never saw it.)

The movie is awful compared to the book.

[Lauderdevil]

Originally Posted by UrinalCake
Seriously people, I mean it's fun to speculate about the team and to talk about these guys like we're all friends and such, but put a little faith in the fact that Coach K and the medical staff know what they're doing. Does anyone really think that K would sacrifice the team's ability to perform in the tournament in order to win some games now?

Reply:
but unless you've played for a major college or athletic program, you don't understand how it works. A LOT of it is left up to the players. 90% of athletes would play with a broken leg if they could. It's what makes them great. If it's one of those 50/50 things, even if rest would help, they usually let the player decide. And the player will NEVER choose to sit.

I think if there's anything we can count on, it's that Coach K has his eyes on the prize, and he's not going to risk tourney time for midseason wins that at this point matter mainly for AP rankings. Fact is, we don't know enough about the injuries even to be able to speculate on the right course of action, because "unlike some other teams," the information hasn't been made public.

What we do know is that we've got a coach who's totally focused on long-term success rather than short-term, and a medical staff that is the best in the nation. I'll go with that.

[Jumbo]

Coach K finally went public today, so everyone can stop speculating about/hiding information as the case may be:

"Henderson played with a brace protecting his injured right wrist, and Krzyzewski said on his pregame radio show that the sophomore guard will require surgery on it after the season."

http://www.goduke.com/ViewArticle.db...ATCLID=1395955