Doctor outlines checklist for Steph Curry's return from injury
Doctor outlines checklist for Steph Curry's return from injury originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
Steph Curry will miss his second consecutive game Thursday night due to a knee injury, but the issue is deemed to be minor.
An MRI revealed the Warriors superstar does not have any structural damage to his right knee, and the team announced Wednesday that he will be re-evaluated later this week.
While Dub Nation will have to play the waiting game to hear when their 'Point God' will return, Dr. Seth Sherman of Stanford Medicine spoke to NBC Sports Bay Area and shared an update on Curry’s knee injury.
"Just because an initial exam is reassuring and the X-rays and MRI are reassuring, it doesn't mean that there wasn't actually an injury," Sherman said. "You can damage some of the soft tissue structure, you can get bruising, you can have minor strains of the muscles and tendons or sprains of the ligaments.
"And when we get the clean bill of health from imaging, that's the beginning of where the hardware begins with the team physicians and the training staff to get them back in game shape. That's really where they're talking day to day."
Curry won't play in Thursday's game against the Oklahoma City Thunder at Chase Center after missing Tuesday's action-packed loss against the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Warriors will provide another update "at some point" later this week.
Dr. Sherman described a day-to-day injury checklist as the following: reduce swelling, get back range of motion, get back strength, do functional movements and assess and reassess for basketball activities.
While the injury is believed to be minor, the Warriors aren't rushing Curry back to allow him to fully heal.
"I think the challenge is if you're threading the needle and going back even after a minor injury, and you don't have as good range of motion, strength, maneuver ability, you can be vulnerable or more vulnerable to other injuries that are way more devastating," Sherman continued. "Of course, we want to prevent the risk that you might tear your ACL, for example, or put your other limb or limbs vulnerable.
"That's why we have protocols and why we go through checklists so that there are different clearances."
The four-time champion and two-time NBA MVP was off to a historic hot start this season, averaging 30.7 points on 48.8 percent shooting from the field and 44.6 percent from 3-point range, along with 4.6 rebounds and 3.9 assists through 11 games.
Golden State will play at least Thursday's game without both Curry and Warriors veteran Draymond Green, who was suspended five games for his role in the Warriors-Timberwolves scuffle.
From the looks of it, though, Dr. Sherman doesn't believe Dub Nation will be without the 3-point king for long.
"Reassuring is the key message here," he said. "Any time you have a basketball injury, contact or non contact, an athlete goes down with time loss, you're holding your breath until you get back that reassurance. But I think every day that goes on and the more that fans are hearing from the Warriors team about their updates, it sounds like this is more on the minor spectrum and that he'll likely be back without significant residuals sooner rather than later."
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