It is a possibility. Whether it is a "likelihood" is simply your layman's opinion. Had Oden suffered ability-altering injuries, or injuries that don't go away or remain chronic, I'd have framed it as a likelihood. But none have had bearing on the others. His wrist injury in college hasn't caused any further problems. This injury wasn't related to his microfracture surgery. It's possible that he's a "freak injury magnet," but I have no idea whether that's likely from a medical standpoint. Most injury-riddled careers have revolved around a single common element that never went away (Tracy McGrady and his back problems, for example). So, I don't think there's a lot of historical comparisons that suggest "freak injury magnets" are likely. Certainly you're welcome to your opinion that it's overly optimistic to "merely" consider Oden's chances of missing time constantly in the future a possibility, but I don't think that's minimizing it. I think that's a rational viewpoint considering the nature of the injuries.
I saw something that made me go "hmmm" in this article..... Isn't that a coincidence? and many are saying this is what happened with our guy.....weird...
http://joshqpublic.com/2009/12/06/greg-oden-glass/ "When he was in sixth grade, Oden required significant hip surgery that left his right leg a bit shorter than his left." There was an account a while back, in Oden's own words, saying how he had to be rushed to the doctor for surgery in 6th grade because his leg was about to fall off. No joke, he described it as barely hanging on. That ain't normal, folks. And if you have a strong stomach... http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=aw-redflags091307&prov=yhoo&type=lgns The fact of the matter is, we drafted Oden despite a lot of warning signs. Hardly. Repeated history is what odds making is all about. I dare say you have little concept of how injury prone-ness works... They don't affect each other that way. Each springs up on its own as a result of underlying issues.
Relevant history is, yes. A wrist injury and non-tendon knee injury seems unlikely to be relevant history to whether a player will suffer further injuries. And what is that underlying issue in your medical opinion? Which players have had injury-riddled careers where the injuries were all to different parts of the body? From what I've seen, players who are constantly injured generally keep re-injuring the same or related parts of the body
So he got hurt at the age of 12, then remained injury free for 6 years until his freshmen year in college. That doesn't sound too bad to me.
Maybe his HS coach was the only one smart enough to prevent injuries ... or maybe he just had so little competition in HS that he didn't have to push himself hard enough to risk getting hurt? Who knows. Whatever the explanation, he has had more than a lifetime worth of serious injuries in a very short period of time. They don't have to be related to be relevant, or vice versa... The fact that serious injuries keep occurring should tell you all you need to know about that. Delicate bones, premature aging (how many 18 year olds do you know with a full beard and deep creases to their brow?), lots of opinions out there... People of Oden's stature are freaks of nature (or outliers, if you prefer a more PC term) to begin with and are going to have significantly shorter life expectancies. Add in the pounding of top flight athletics and that's a lot of wear and tear on the body... He's had multiple soft tissue (hip and wrist) and structural (knees x3) injuries, with the hip injury (resulting leg length difference) possibly affecting later knees. That has absolutely nothing to do with Oden. You can't reason your way through this with examples of other athletes... That's where most in the medical community prove themselves to be inept at injury prevention. They try to apply the consensus "book" diagnosis to individuals, but individuals are called individuals for a reason... They're all different.
You're misunderstanding...I'm not diagnosing Oden via other players. I'm saying that I don't see "history" that shows an "unrelated injury magnet" phenomenon existing. If that were something that happens, there should be examples of it. In other words, I wouldn't try to diagnose someone having cancer by comparing them other people who have cancer, but the fact that plenty of people do have cancer makes it clear that cancer is a real risk. If there aren't examples of athletes who have careers filled with unrelated injuries (that prevent them from playing), I'm a lot less convinced that that's a real risk. Of course, anecdotal evidence isn't the end-all/be-all. If actual doctors say that Oden is prone to serious, unrelated (to each other) injuries, perhaps due to some condition like brittle bones, then that would be quite convincing.
And so would have 29 other teams - no matter what they say. Do you not remember the hype? "Once in a generation Center". You pass on Oden and he goes on to win championships and MVP's - you get fired, and are mocked eternally. Not many people are criticizing the pick even now, because they know the truth. NOBODY had the balls to pass on Oden no matter what that physical said.
C'mon now. Oden injured the same knee less than a year ago. It is *possible* that there was residual damage that was not properly diagnosised and treated. It may be speculation, but it is hardly unreasonable. (and would make the current situation slightly less depressing, as there would be an actual REASON this happened!)
The broken wrist occured at a high-school all-star game, and was still plaguing him months later at OSU.
It doesn't matter whether or not there are other examples of it. Oden is his own case study and you've been saying for 3 years now that there is no reason to believe one injury is reason to expect another ... and you've been proven wrong each time. Think of it another way, most people as injury prone as Oden don't make it this far in their athletic careers, thus they don't get to become relevant examples. No doubt. That's another matter entirely, though. We can't sit here and say it's just bad luck when all the warning signs were there...
I for one had no problem with your post Brian! We are all posters here - trying to make sense of what just happened. Obviously, no one from the Blazer organization has or will come forward with this sort of information, reasoning, etc. - - - so I read your post as your own speculation of "what might have" triggered Greg's injury! Why you get blasted? You got me!
I disagree! I demand that if anyone is posting about a Blazer injury that they must have personally examined said patient AND gotten a second opinion.
Yes, and it would take an actual doctor to diagnose Oden as his own case study. In the absence of that, other examples are relevant to appraising the plausibility of your speculative theory. That's pretty terrible logic. If someone is struck by lightning and I say, "The fact that they were struck by lightning is no reason to believe that they will be struck by lightning again," I am not "proven wrong" if they are struck by lightning again. The real question here is whether these are independent events, like the lightning strikes. I don't know, but based on the location of the injuries and the reports on each injury, I lean toward them being so. You obviously think they aren't. That's fine, but you have nothing particular backing that opinion besides your say-so. Unless you are a properly trained doctor who has examined Oden, your say-so isn't compelling. If you're right about Oden, he himself shows that such people can make it to the pros. Oden is the first person who has a disorder that makes him prone to picking up serious injuries to different parts of the body and made it to the pros? Perhaps, it just seems quite unlikely.
You can continue burying your head in the sand... I'll stick with my direct experience which is a far better track record at getting these things right than the Blazers medical staff. I've helped hundreds if not thousands (tough to estimate with the non face to face limitations of the internet) of athletes overcome and avoid injuries that they were told nothing can be done about. I know you won't believe me even if I gave details, so I won't bother.
