Hand's Down

AP Photo/David Zalubowski


Best wishes for a quick recovery to Denver Nuggets' star Carmelo Anthony, who suffered a non-displaced third metacarpal fracture in his right hand in the 3rd quarter of last night's game against the Indiana Pacers.


As reported by ESPN.COM , Anthony sustained the injury to his shooting hand when the Pacers' Jeff Foster slapped down on him as he was going up for a shot.


While they don't occur as often as ankle sprains and knee injuries, hand and finger injuries are not uncommon in a ball-sport like basketball.
Most people who play often enough will eventually have a jammed finger, mallet finger, dislocation, or fracture. Wrist injuries are also commonly seen and fractures of the scaphoid bone are often missed because someone assumes it's a (more commonly seen) wrist sprain.

Chris Mullin, the former St Johns and Golden State Warriors shooter supreme, went through 3 hand surgeries during his career. Although, they were to his right (non-shooting) hand, he once said, "Saying it's OK because the injury is to the non-shooting hand is like saying it's OK to have an injury to your non-walking foot".

So what will likely happen to Melo?

• He'll get a splint to support his wrist and hand while he heals.
• He may get some electrical stimulation or hyperbaric oxygen treatments to help with bone healing.
• He'll keep working out to maintain his cardiovascular fitness and strength.
• As time goes by, he'll get some occupational therapy to work on regaining strength and flexibility in his right hand.
• He can work on his left hand skill more.
• Once cleared to return to practice, it will probably take some time to get his shot back and regain his confidence that he can take some bumps and bruises without the injury recurring.

He's demonstrated his toughness in the past. Here's hoping that he'll come back and play well with the hand he's been dealt (sorry).

Take Him/Her to the Hospital !!

In a recently published report from the United States Centers for Disease Control (CDC), basketball was, yet again, the most common sport to cause an injury that sent a child or adolescent (between the ages of 5 and 18 years) to a hospital emergency department.

While the article ( available at http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5629a2.htm?s_cid=mm5629a2_e ), focuses on brain injuries from sports participation, the authors (see table 1) estimate that, between 2001-2005, there were over 380,000 emergency room visits for youth basketball-related injuries. That's more than football, more than bicycling, more than baseball, soccer, or any other sport listed.

If you look at all ages, basketball is still the sport associated with the most emergency room visits (over 600,000 during that same time period).

For the dubious distinction of causing brain injuries (concussions and worse), youth basketball ranks 3rd, behind bicycles and football, two sports where the use of helmets is mandated.

Don't get me wrong, I consider basketball to be the best sport on the planet and would encourage all young athletes to learn, practice, and enjoy it.

But the next time you think about going out to play, keep in mind that it is a high-speed, contact sport that can send you to the hospital so you should take every opportunity to rehabilitate, train, and use protective equipment to reduce your chance of being the one seen in the local emergency room.

An Ankle a Day....

OK, maybe Sports Medicine doctors don't see an ankle injury each day, but it's pretty close.

Ankle injuries (mostly sprains) are the most common basketball injury and can range from a "tweak" that you walk off to a career ending event.

Take a look at this clip a few times and then read on for a few things to learn from it.

• While guards and wings like to "break ankles" with a good crossover driblle during transition or on the perimeter, most ankle injuries occur in the paint, where people are jumping and landing while going for rebounds, blocked shots, etc.

• The vast majority (about 85%) of ankle sprains occur when you land awkwardly or on top of someone else's foot and roll your foot over the outside border. This inversion injury can stretch or tear ligaments (tissue that joins bone to bone) and cause significant pain. In this instance, the player lands on someone else's foot and suffers an inversion sprain.

• Immediate management of the injury includes getting off the floor to be evaluated. If you hear a pop, roll your ankle the other way (eversion), or can't walk or bear weight on the ankle, it's probably a more serious injury. If an athletic trainer, physical therapist or physician is present, they can assess the tenderness and stability of the ankle ligaments by performing a series of maneuvers. You can see some of this on the video.

This should be done quickly, because as soon as any swelling starts, it will become more difficult to figure out any specific tender points (because the entire side of the ankle will be tender!)

• Whether you're in a pickup game or in the middle of the NBA Finals, you should take immediate steps to keep the ankle from swelling (too much). This means starting the R.I.C.E program that includes Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation. In the video, you can see this player (Kristen Rasmussen of the Adelaide Lightning) limping off the court while her foot is in a compression boot.

• Another important point is that once you sprain your ankle, you become 5 times more likely to sustain another injury to that same ankle. I'm guessing that "Raz" had previously sprained her ankle(s) as she can be seen to be wearing black ankle supports under her basketball shoes (more about this in a future post).

The good news is that ankle injuries, when treated appropriately, can be overcome. Ms. Rasmussen was able to return later in the season and she's currently playing for the WNBA's Connecticut Sun.

In a future blog post, I'll go over some of the important, but often overlooked, parts of a good rehabilitation program designed to not only return an injured basketball player to competition but to decrease his or her risk of further injury.