Zion's Knee

[MartyClark]

FYI here it is...https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/...uth-basketball

I read it. Good article and I see your point on Zion.

I wonder whether these kids would be better off if they didn't play in the summer. I'm a big boot camp guy and see how the core strength, cardio and balance exercises have really helped me for skiing, hiking and everyday activities of an old guy.

It's probably a hard sell for the kids though. They want to be stars, to play in the summer, to get visibility, to be pampered on the AAU circuit while, maybe, they are hurting their bodies and shortening their basketball shelf life.

Back to Zion. I hope this his knees are good and he sets the NBA on fire.

Go Duke. Go Zion

[Billy Dat]

Zion out 6-8 weeks after surgery to repair a torn meniscus. MAN, THIS SUCKS!!!!

Get well soon, kid!!!!!!!!

[Dr. Rosenrosen]

Zion out 6-8 weeks after surgery to repair a torn meniscus. MAN, THIS SUCKS!!!!

Get well soon, kid!!!!!!!!

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!

[AZLA]

Zion out 6-8 weeks after surgery to repair a torn meniscus. MAN, THIS SUCKS!!!!

Get well soon, kid!!!!!!!!

Priority #1: Here's hoping Zion heals well, and is 100% back to normal and pain-free very soon.

Priority #2: Here's hoping someone buys my lower-level tickets on Stubhub for when Pelicans visit in November (I'll take half price at this point).

[SouthernDukie]

Zion out 6-8 weeks after surgery to repair a torn meniscus. MAN, THIS SUCKS!!!!

Get well soon, kid!!!!!!!!

Had a bad feeling it was going to be something more substantial than just a couple of weeks. On the plus side, it’s something that can be fully recovered from. On the negative side, he’ll miss valuable time to develop on court chemistry with his new teammates.

[Dr. Rosenrosen]

Had a bad feeling it was going to be something more substantial than just a couple of weeks. On the plus side, it’s something that can be fully recovered from. On the negative side, he’ll miss valuable time to develop on court chemistry with his new teammates.

And we’re gonna hear from idiots for weeks about how they knew and warned this was going to happen.

[AZLA]

Is there a Doctor on board? We need a doctor! Please explain the short and long-term impacts of a torn meniscus and comfort my hope that this type of injury shouldn't have any career-limiting impact. Doesn't have to be an orthopedic. I could google it but -- I'd rather get the insights of a surgeon who knows this stuff inside out.

[SouthernDukie]

And we’re gonna hear from idiots for weeks about how they knew and warned this was going to happen.

Wow. That’s kind of harsh. Just saying I feared it would be more substantial than a handful of games because of the initial obscure announcement from the team.

[elvis14]

And we’re gonna hear from idiots for weeks about how they knew and warned this was going to happen.

Oh and let's not forget the "he needs to lose a bunch of weight" people as well.

The article I read described it as a debridement. To me that means they just went in and cleaned up a bit. Long term this actually seems like good news.

[AZLA]

Wow. That’s kind of harsh. Just saying I feared it would be more substantial than a handful of games because of the initial obscure announcement from the team.

Kinda funny that those people haven't said anything yet, yet he's the one who brought it up...

[SouthernDukie]

Oh and let's not forget the "he needs to lose a bunch of weight" people as well.

The article I read described it as a debridement. To me that means they just went in and cleaned up a bit. Long term this actually seems like good news.

Yep. That was absolutely me. You’ll find probably a dozen or more comments from me - in this thread alone - saying Zion has to lose 100 lbs immediately or he’ll be out of the league by year’s end. Definitely more than reason enough to call me an idiot.

[AZLA]

Yep. That was absolutely me. You’ll find probably a dozen or more comments from me - in this thread alone - saying Zion has to lose 100 lbs immediately or he’ll be out of the league by year’s end. Definitely more than reason enough to call me an idiot.

Salient point. You're cool, and not an idiot. My guess is Dr. R was just reacting to the bad news.

Regardless of anyone's opinion on this thread (or in the media) -- you can guarantee Zion's "people," his doctors, and heck, all the way up to Adam Silver and CAA have already been talking about conditioning, therapy, and preventative health.

[Steven43]

And we’re gonna hear from idiots for weeks about how they knew and warned this was going to happen.

What I don’t get is why people think Zion is more prone to injury than other players. What are they basing this on? Is he the first rookie to have a meniscus tear for crissakes?

Also, everyone — and I mean EVERYONE — talks about his weight as if they are experts on the subject. And of course the consensus is that he simply MUST lose weight or else he is going to have a drastically shortened career. I don’t understand how so many pundits (I am not referring to DBR posters) suddenly became experts on this subject.

[CDu]

Oh and let's not forget the "he needs to lose a bunch of weight" people as well.

The article I read described it as a debridement. To me that means they just went in and cleaned up a bit. Long term this actually seems like good news.

I mean, meniscus surgery is never "good" news. It means he had a tear in the meniscus, and the doctors didn't feel it was suitable to repair that torn part. So they took the torn part out.

In the short-term, that probably means a quicker recovery time than a meniscus repair. But, it also means he has less meniscus, and is more at risk of osteoarthritis in the knee.

The mensicus is sort of like the shock absorber for the knee. So with less meniscus, you have less cushion for your joints. For a guy Zion's size and for a guy who puts the stress Zion puts on his joints, that's going to have long-term consequences.

But, in the short-term (i.e., his 20s), he will probably be fine as long as he doesn't suffer more injuries.

The bigger concern is that he's now had multiple injuries to his knee(s) as a teenager, and he's about to ramp up the intensity of his competition moving forward (more games, more physicality required, less rest time). His knees aren't likely to get better with age.

[CDu]

What I don’t get is why people think Zion is more prone to injury than other players. What are they basing this on?

It's physics. Zion - by virtue of his size and the explosive nature in which he plays - puts more stress on his joints than pretty much anyone in the history of the league. The human body is an amazing machine, but the soft tissues are only so strong. And when you're putting more stress on those ligaments, you're at a greater risk of injury.

Is that a guarantee that his career will be shortened? No. But I think it's fair and reasonable to say that a guy who puts more stress on his ligaments is at a higher risk of injury and injury-related decline. And Zion - who is 30-40 pounds heavier than LeBron at this age and runs/cuts/jumps like a guard - puts the most stress on his joints.

Probably the closest comp for size and explosiveness that we have for Zion is Larry Johnson. Zion is even bigger than Johnson was in college, and Johnson's body certainly betrayed him early on.

[SouthernDukie]

I mean, meniscus surgery is never "good" news. It means he had a tear in the meniscus, and the doctors didn't feel it was suitable to repair that torn part. So they took the torn part out.

In the short-term, that probably means a quicker recovery time than a meniscus repair. But, it also means he has less meniscus, and is more at risk of osteoarthritis in the knee.

The mensicus is sort of like the shock absorber for the knee. So with less meniscus, you have less cushion for your joints. For a guy Zion's size and for a guy who puts the stress Zion puts on his joints, that's going to have long-term consequences.

But, in the short-term (i.e., his 20s), he will probably be fine as long as he doesn't suffer more injuries.

The bigger concern is that he's now had multiple injuries to his knee(s) as a teenager, and he's about to ramp up the intensity of his competition moving forward (more games, more physicality required, less rest time). His knees aren't likely to get better with age.

Yep. I tore the meniscus in my left knee over 20 years ago and never had it repaired. To this day if I do any strenuous activity (like trying to play b-ball with the kids) it swells up. Trick knees are definitely no fun. Here’s hoping Zion has a quick and completely full recovery with no lasting issues.

[HereBeforeCoachK]

What I don’t get is why people think Zion is more prone to injury than other players. What are they basing this on? Is he the first rookie to have a meniscus tear for crissakes?

Also, everyone — and I mean EVERYONE — talks about his weight as if they are experts on the subject. And of course the consensus is that he simply MUST lose weight or else he is going to have a drastically shortened career. I don’t understand how so many pundits (I am not referring to DBR posters) suddenly became experts on this subject.

That's an absurd rant there. The fact is, most of us have had some kind of knee problems, and we've hard the orthos tell us that weight is a huge factor regarding knee health, especially if you still do sports. The expert is I first heard it from IS NOT ME...nor anyone on DBR, it's former Duke/Minnesota Vikings lineman and reknowned ortho named Lyman Smith - as well as another ortho in another practice.

Oh and let's not forget the "he needs to lose a bunch of weight" people as well.

The article I read described it as a debridement. To me that means they just went in and cleaned up a bit. Long term this actually seems like good news.

Google any article on the meniscus, and you will see that weight is a factor in meniscus wear and tear. The meniscus is called the "shock absorber of the knee." You don't think weight has an impact on shock absorbers? Zion doesn't need to lose weight because he's fat...HE IS NOT...he doesn't need to lose weight so he can jump...HE SKIES...but we're talking about coming down...which even Zion has to do.

Speaking of coming down, another factor is fall velocity. Zion has vertical of approx 44 inches...that means his speed of fall is measurably faster than someone who has a vertical jump of 28 inches...a better than average vertical for a big man and the NBA average for all players. If I did my quick calcs right, a 44 inch vertical results in maybe 40% higher speed at impact than a 28.

[Dr. Rosenrosen]

Wow. That’s kind of harsh. Just saying I feared it would be more substantial than a handful of games because of the initial obscure announcement from the team.

I meant sports “reporters” who love to run their mouths. I was not referring to DBR posters and certainly was not calling you an idiot. I was just leveraging the portion of your comment that talked about the negatives. (And golly gee, I don’t know if I’ve ever received a negative reputation comment but I guess there’s a first time for almost everything.)

[dukelifer]

It's physics. Zion - by virtue of his size and the explosive nature in which he plays - puts more stress on his joints than pretty much anyone in the history of the league. The human body is an amazing machine, but the soft tissues are only so strong. And when you're putting more stress on those ligaments, you're at a greater risk of injury.

Is that a guarantee that his career will be shortened? No. But I think it's fair and reasonable to say that a guy who puts more stress on his ligaments is at a higher risk of injury and injury-related decline. And Zion - who is 30-40 pounds heavier than LeBron at this age and runs/cuts/jumps like a guard - puts the most stress on his joints.

Probably the closest comp for size and explosiveness that we have for Zion is Larry Johnson. Zion is even bigger than Johnson was in college, and Johnson's body certainly betrayed him early on.

Correct. Hopefully we can enjoy Zion- but knees were not built for what Zion is doing to them. But hard to predict. I thought Jabari was done and he is still around and Livingston has a long productive run in the league after a nightmare injury- you never know.

[SouthernDukie]

I meant sports “reporters” who love to run their mouths. I was not referring to DBR posters and certainly was not calling you an idiot. I was just leveraging the portion of your comment that talked about the negatives. (And golly gee, I don’t know if I’ve ever received a negative reputation comment but I guess there’s a first time for almost everything.)

Sorry for that, but I was completely gobsmacked by the perceived insult at what I thought was a simple comment. I’ll cancel that out ASAP with a positive rep comment as soon as I’m allowed to.