Joe Nelson

Covering the WNBA and NBA as a full time gig, and a part time nurse, like… of course it’s atypical for a normal human who has a clean up to be on crutches and wear a brace. However, this is Anthony Edwards who is the face of the Wolves, Adidas, Sprite, Prada and like a billion other things. Before I go on a rant, nothing against Brian at all, not attacking him and I think his insight is valuable Okay, *inhale Teams are overly cautious all the time, the example I point to with this is the use of CAMM boots. CAMM boots are the big clunky shoe looking thing that goes from toe to above the calf with a bunch of Velcro straps, I’m sure most fans have seen it but have no clue what it’s called. Anyway, pretty much anyone who has any sort of ankle sprain, calf tightness, or foot sprain ends up in that boot which completely immobilizes the foot and ankle and calf… which in my other life is something PTs and OTs make fun of all the time because these larger than life athletes have a minor sprain (something a 87 year old would just get ACE wrapped, some ice and take Tylenol for) meanwhile the pro athlete they get the boot that’s used for torn ligaments and broken bones and yes severe ankle sprains. Which again, in my other life, is contraindicated because the lack of mobility in a minor sprain can cause more stiffness, more swelling and even puts normal healthy people at a higher risk for falls and more injuries like pressure sores down the line. But using the boot does guarantee that a player won’t resprain their ankle walking up stairs on the way home, or boarding the plane the next day or by a kid leaving toys in a dark entry way. That’s just one example of a device being over used, wrist braces, back braces, 4 chamber compression edema boots, rock tape, even heavy duty knee braces. The amount of over precautionary medical devices athletes use is head spinning for someone that’s spent a decade arguing with surgeons about weight bearing status’, and if we over analyzed everyone that left the game with some medical devices, fans would go insane. Heck, a good deal of NBA players use 4 chambered Lymphedema compression boots after every game… which helps with their recovery and lowering inflammation but is normally used for patients with heart failure or lymphedema to push fluid from their feet back into their core(circulatory system). The point of all of this, is that the people who SS pictures of players in CAMM Boots(I still remember the inbox being swarmed with Bridgette Carlton Boot pics 😂) in the team flight media videos, are normally nothing more than teams being precautionary. That’s my read on the Ant on crutches in a knee brace video, the GM said it wasn’t meniscus related or related to his injury last season, the team/surgeon said it went well. Sure there’s always examples of teams lying or misdiagnosis, but in truth, it’s usually a lot more boring… Ant could have said he wants to go on the court after treatment, his therapist probably had a vision of Ant trying to run and hug Jaden, then might have said “wear this brace and use your crutches” then Ant probably said “bet” and wandered out there unprompted. Thanks for enjoying this TED talk 😂

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