Rajon Rondo Injury: The Recent History Of Metacarpal Fractures In The NBA

http://www.celticsblog.com/2014/9/27/6853743/rajon-rondo-injury-the-recent-history-of-metacarpal-fractures-trampoline-shower-nba-boston-celtics



Rajon Rondo Injury: The recent history of metacarpal fractures in the NBA
By Kevin O'Connor  @KevinOConnorNBA on Sep 27 2014, 11:28a 2






Most of the talk surrounding Rajon Rondo's hand injury centers around whether he fractured his left fifth metacarpal in the shower or on a trampoline, but that fact is unimportant in the grand scheme of things. What matters most is when the Boston Celtics star point guard returns and how effective he will be.

Over the past few seasons, 12 players have suffered an injury to one of the five metacarpal bones in their hand. Of those players, two have seen their seasons destroyed after reinjury, four didn't require surgery, and the others went on to return and play productive basketball.





After fracturing a metacarpal, the average player waited 4.4 days before having surgery. Of course, everyone's case is different, but only Rondo and Turkoglu had surgery the following day after sustaining their injury.

Turkoglu's story is the worst-case scenario for Rondo. He was expected to be out for only four weeks, but he suffered a setback when one of the screws inserted to repair the bone became loose. Upon returning to the court, Turkoglu reinjured the hand and was out for an additional three weeks.

The Celtics set an expected return date of six to eight weeks, which would mean he'll miss somewhere between three and 11 games. The average player above had to wait 41.6 days before returning to the court. If Rondo's recovery took the same amount of time, he would miss five games and make his season debut on November 8 in Chicago.

The fear, of course, is that of the five players who had surgery on a metacarpal and returned during the season, two of them reinjured it.

In addition to Turkoglu, Kevin Love ended up missing the rest of his season because of continued problems in his hand. He returned in a month, but it wasn't long before he re-fractured his third metacarpal and was having another surgery that shut down his season.

If the Celtics want to play it safe with Rondo, they might choose to wait until November 23 against Portland for his return.

With a brutal schedule to start the season, the Boston Celtics will be rocking on rough waters and the captain Rajon Rondo won't be there to steady the ship.



bob



.

I hadn't heard the trampoline rumor.  The only important perspective is to send Rondo a get-well-quick cyber card.  It won't surprise me at all if he tries to get back and practice one-handed well before his anticipated recuperation target.

GWQ, Rondo

Sam

Wasn't it Will Rogers that said, "I never metacarpal I didn't like"?

I hope Brad, Danny and RR take considerably longer than the minimum recovery time, especially in light of evidence above that rushing back may be foolhardy. This fall, we will be on choppy waters without a captain, but we're not going to sink and the more water we take on, the bigger the potential bilge pump next June. I've thought for awhile that rising to the top again might take two trips of the lottery. Along with the other moves Danny is making, a season of trial by fire, character-building and the true passing of the torch may be what we need. Then if Rondo comes back healed and gradually plays himself into game shape, we may look good in the spring, even though our record is lackluster.
When I heard we landed Smart, I thought Rondo was gone, but I've come to think Smart might help us keep Rondo. Rondo's been injured a few times now, knows his NBA life is finite. He won't be setting any records this year and neither will the C's. He may be more tractable next year, realizing the team isn't desperate and has potential. With a lottery pick looming and a good young core, we might look like a place to stay. Hawk

While in Boston this weekend I was listening to 2 talk show hosts on Sports Hub and several people who worked at the trampoline park and called in said Rondo only watched his kids on the tramoline.......

second one of the hosts had several ortho doctors as friends and they said the location of Rondo's injury on his hand was impossible to sustain trying to brace oneself in a fall. It is a boxers/fighters injury and they only occur when the person has a closed fist hitting something or someone.

Odd also that the Celtics had a charity golf event on Wednesday and Rondo never showed.........you would think as Captain he would appear.........which raises a question.....was Rondo already injured?

Celtics PR will be called into question on this one!

112288

Sam....Karen and I had a great time with you and Sally....the restaurant was a great pick!  Gotta go back there again!