The rumors have been out there and they seem extremely silly to me. We know that Andrel Anthony had ACL surgery and was expected to play big minutes this season but it hasn’t culminated in what I think he would have liked the season to have been.
The board, and other fans are questioning what may be going on so I will provide a peek behind the proverbial curtain.
1. A graft, bracing failure may have occurred so a second surgery may have taken place which slightly altered his timeline. This type of surgery will alter your rehab as well. AA is sitting almost right at a year now which is typically the TL for this type of injury at this stage in life.
2. Persistent Pain - It may be the case that he actually may be good to go but his body hasn’t yet responded how it needs to and therefore he is still experiencing pain in/around the knee. This would be very difficult to deal with because his body may feel ready at times but the recovery time to get back to “pain free” is just too long. I firmly believe this is an element to what is going on with him and it may just take a little more time.
3. Limited ROM - This can also lead to elevated muscle stiffness. If he was not able to generate the ROM he previously had, this impacts everything from speed, stop/start, ability to jump, ability to land, as well as the overall confidence in which you play with. This may have been the result of a poorly managed rehab (which I HIGHLY doubt) or he may have had some genetic factors that impacted his ability to fully recover.
Going along with this, his strength may still not be where it was which could lead to my final thoughts…
4. Psychological - It’s also possible that everything went completely fine but the fear of reinjury is so great that the coaches/player cannot keep himself mentally/physically in the game. This is the toughest part about knee/ankle surgeries that are not discussed enough. It can often take professional, psychological help to get over these fears. There are cases in which the athlete is even stronger than they were before but the psychological barriers are so great that performance is impacted to a point that they are frozen in fear at times.
The worst part can be the hyperawarenss/hyperfixation on “feelings” and “sensations” in the knee which could immediately be something that causes him to pull his own self out of a game. Seen this type of fear first hand with a player I trained who played for UVA and Rice who suffered through multiple knee surgeries until he finally gave it up.
Bonus - Speaking with others who have been through the procedure and had great success can also impact you. Jealousy, resentment, bitterness. It’s a very real thing and can also have a tangible impact on the athlete going through the issues.
I hope this provides some real context to the AA thing and gives you guys an idea of how tough this road may be for him as an athlete.
The board, and other fans are questioning what may be going on so I will provide a peek behind the proverbial curtain.
1. A graft, bracing failure may have occurred so a second surgery may have taken place which slightly altered his timeline. This type of surgery will alter your rehab as well. AA is sitting almost right at a year now which is typically the TL for this type of injury at this stage in life.
2. Persistent Pain - It may be the case that he actually may be good to go but his body hasn’t yet responded how it needs to and therefore he is still experiencing pain in/around the knee. This would be very difficult to deal with because his body may feel ready at times but the recovery time to get back to “pain free” is just too long. I firmly believe this is an element to what is going on with him and it may just take a little more time.
3. Limited ROM - This can also lead to elevated muscle stiffness. If he was not able to generate the ROM he previously had, this impacts everything from speed, stop/start, ability to jump, ability to land, as well as the overall confidence in which you play with. This may have been the result of a poorly managed rehab (which I HIGHLY doubt) or he may have had some genetic factors that impacted his ability to fully recover.
Going along with this, his strength may still not be where it was which could lead to my final thoughts…
4. Psychological - It’s also possible that everything went completely fine but the fear of reinjury is so great that the coaches/player cannot keep himself mentally/physically in the game. This is the toughest part about knee/ankle surgeries that are not discussed enough. It can often take professional, psychological help to get over these fears. There are cases in which the athlete is even stronger than they were before but the psychological barriers are so great that performance is impacted to a point that they are frozen in fear at times.
The worst part can be the hyperawarenss/hyperfixation on “feelings” and “sensations” in the knee which could immediately be something that causes him to pull his own self out of a game. Seen this type of fear first hand with a player I trained who played for UVA and Rice who suffered through multiple knee surgeries until he finally gave it up.
Bonus - Speaking with others who have been through the procedure and had great success can also impact you. Jealousy, resentment, bitterness. It’s a very real thing and can also have a tangible impact on the athlete going through the issues.
I hope this provides some real context to the AA thing and gives you guys an idea of how tough this road may be for him as an athlete.
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