Akok achilles | Page 6 | The Boneyard

Akok achilles

HuskyHawk said:
I’m no doctor but I’ve seen this described as a fairly rare injury for a young athlete, and also a devastating one for older athletes (in their 30s). So I’m hoping that Akok has some advantage in recovery as a young guy. Rudy Gay is cited as a guy who came back pretty successfully. Dominique Wilkins was perhaps most successful. Others like Cousins and Kobe not so great.
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I am, it is, and he does. It really depends on how well it heals, and once healed enough how well the strength returns. I’ve got a 32 year old guy who I fixed about 5 months ago who is back running, with no restrictions in the weight room now. That’s what you hope for, and it’s more likely in younger guys. Typically you want that at 6 months. The most important thing is not to push too hard in the first 3 months. The hardest thing to get back is the explosiveness.
 
Doctor Hoop said:
I am, it is, and he does. It really depends on how well it heals, and once healed enough how well the strength returns. I’ve got a 32 year old guy who I fixed about 5 months ago who is back running, with no restrictions in the weight room now. That’s what you hope for, and it’s more likely in younger guys. Typically you want that at 6 months. The most important thing is not to push too hard in the first 3 months. The hardest thing to get back is the explosiveness.
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Do you think his anatomical structure (long tibia, very lean muscular build, etc) would have any impact on his prognosis? Being only 200lbs requires less force generation to be explosive but I’m wondering if his LE strength was just weaker to begin with.

Akok turns 21 in October so if he redshirts he’ll be 22 before he sees live action again. Hopefully that won’t factor in to his decision making process when it comes to deciding whether to redshirt or try for a comeback in the 2nd half of next season.
 
Doctor Hoop said:
I am, it is, and he does. It really depends on how well it heals, and once healed enough how well the strength returns. I’ve got a 32 year old guy who I fixed about 5 months ago who is back running, with no restrictions in the weight room now. That’s what you hope for, and it’s more likely in younger guys. Typically you want that at 6 months. The most important thing is not to push too hard in the first 3 months. The hardest thing to get back is the explosiveness.
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I nominate Dr Hoop to perform the surgery.
 
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Doctor Hoop said:
I am, it is, and he does. It really depends on how well it heals, and once healed enough how well the strength returns. I’ve got a 32 year old guy who I fixed about 5 months ago who is back running, with no restrictions in the weight room now. That’s what you hope for, and it’s more likely in younger guys. Typically you want that at 6 months. The most important thing is not to push too hard in the first 3 months. The hardest thing to get back is the explosiveness.
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Worst thing about this is he loses his offseason. That really sets him back, especially for a guy that needs those reps so badly
 
lange10 said:
My brother is a doctor (DPT) and echoed this. He also mentioned that given Akok’s build it’s about the worst injury he could’ve suffered as a basketball player.
Wonderful.
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What about his build makes it worse exactly? I ignorantly assumed not having a lot of weight to put on it was a good thing
 
bendm said:
What about his build makes it worse exactly? I ignorantly assumed not having a lot of weight to put on it was a good thing
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maybe how long the lower part of his legs are? I don’t know, I’m ignorant too
 
bendm said:
What about his build makes it worse exactly? I ignorantly assumed not having a lot of weight to put on it was a good thing
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Scratch that. He said it doesn’t really matter his built. For some reason I thought I heard him say that.
 
My prediction is that he’s out for all of 2020-21 and 2021-22 will be his final season.
 
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Quite frankly, and this is not a criticism of anyone, we should look at pre game stretching and warmups to see if there is anything we could do better. The fact this happened early in the game, to me, draws attention to this aspect.
 
When I watched the opening tip, I thought he came down a little funny or seemed to limp slightly immediately afterward- but, then I thought it was the other foot & not the one that had Achilles injury. The injury happened so fast at game's beginning, maybe my mind is saying they were connected
 
Chief00 said:
Quite frankly, and this is not a criticism of anyone, we should look at pre game stretching and warmups to see if there is anything we could do better. The fact this happened early in the game, to me, draws attention to this aspect.
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Interesting point. Just to add to - and again no criticism or really any knowledge on my part about this type of injury, but I am also curious what caused it. Looking at the replay it didn’t seem like there was anything unusual about the play or how he landed etc. It looked like a normal basketball play. When guys go down with knees or ankles, you can usually see some kind of trauma to the injured area. Really sad for such a good kid. I hope he comes back as strong as he was before the injury.
 
Akok
Put Rudy Gay on speed dial! What ever he did post op you should do. I would also check in with Durant. Both are similar in body type so I would titrate between what the two of them are doing.
 
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Chief00 said:
Quite frankly, and this is not a criticism of anyone, we should look at pre game stretching and warmups to see if there is anything we could do better. The fact this happened early in the game, to me, draws attention to this aspect.
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Be sure to call Sal and the athletic training staff and tell them to get on that.
 
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intlzncster said:
Worst thing about this is he loses his offseason. That really sets him back, especially for a guy that needs those reps so badly
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On the other hand he gets an extra year to work on his upper body. Not much of a consolation prize but it’s something. I’m praying for the kid.
 
UconnPT2007 said:
Do you think his anatomical structure (long tibia, very lean muscular build, etc) would have any impact on his prognosis? Being only 200lbs requires less force generation to be explosive but I’m wondering if his LE strength was just weaker to begin with.

Akok turns 21 in October so if he redshirts he’ll be 22 before he sees live action again. Hopefully that won’t factor in to his decision making process when it comes to deciding whether to redshirt or try for a comeback in the 2nd half of next season.
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With his thin legs his Achilles is probably fairly skinny also. It may have been a factor in tearing it, but once they are repaired the healed tendon is usually much thicker. Sometimes double the uninjured side. With a stronger lower body and legs you can train better mechanics landing from jumps (you want the muscles to absorb the shock) but the hard court and explosive jumping takes a toll.
 
tzznandrew said:
Stretching! Damn. If only the athletic training professionals had thought of that.
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But was it adequate, not done too early, was his body warmed up, etc? These are things smart people would explore and learn from. You can’t avoid all injures but you should be constantly learning and trying to minimize injury risk.
 
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Chief00 said:
But was it adequate, not done too early, was his body warmed up. etc. These are things smart people would explore and learn from. You can’t avoid all injures but you should be constantly learning and trying to minimize them.
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Good god. If he broke a bone would you complain they weren’t giving him enough milk?? There’s no blame for an Achilles. It just happened. It sucks. Of all the crazy things you’ve said on this board.......
 
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Doctor Hoop said:
With his thin legs his Achilles is probably fairly skinny also. It may have been a factor in tearing it, but once they are repaired the healed tendon is usually much thicker. Sometimes double the uninjured side.
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What I heard:
 
Tearing an Achilles is basically just bad luck.

Just like tearing an ACL, spraining an ankle, getting a flat tire or stubbing your little toe.

These things will always happen to someone. If they were actually preventable, they would never happen to elite athletes.
 
Doctor Hoop said:
With his thin legs his Achilles is probably fairly skinny also. It may have been a factor in tearing it, but once they are repaired the healed tendon is usually much thicker. Sometimes double the uninjured side. With a stronger lower body and legs you can train better mechanics landing from jumps (you want the muscles to absorb the shock) but the hard court and explosive jumping takes a toll.
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I'm curious how this repair is done.
Is the tendon normally frayed and must be trimmed? How is it re-attached?
What makes it become thicker? What is the major concern in rehabbing it? Is it the tendon must be stretched carefully and slowly or is it the potential for the repaired area to fail?
Thanks, that ought to cover it.;)
 
uconngb said:
Good god. If he broke a bone would you complain they weren’t giving him enough milk?? There’s no blame for an Achilles. It just happened. It sucks. Of all the crazy things you’ve said on this board.......
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You obviously have no clue. I haven‘t talked to Coach Hurley about this recent incident but knowing how he handles things to constantly trying to improve, of course he will take a look at this to see if we can do anything better in the future. The nature of your personality turns to looking at this as a blame game. In all due respect, that’s not how smart people react, but they most definitely look and say is there anything we can do to reduce the risk of this in the future, especially early in games. There is a reason many good programs have comprehensive stretching regiments before games. Being a casual fan, I suggest you go to a game an hour or so early, it would be a real eye opener for you to see what certain teams do in this regard.
 
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Just woke up to this news and thinking about it he must have been in some kind of pain when sitting on the bench in a boot! He is one tough young man! As far as surgery goes I hope he goes to the best like HSS.
 
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