Dwight Howard is
trying to avoid surgery on his shoulder — he does not have a complete tear of the
labrum in his shoulder. He doesn’t want another summer of rehab, especially one
where he is a free agent. His shoulder can be painful when aggravated but it’s
something that after a couple days rest and treatment would subside and he
could go back to playing.
The problem is Dwight Howard plays a physical game — guys are going to hack him across the arms when he goes up pretty much every time and try to send him to the line. You want Howard to shoot free throws, not dunk.
Which is what happened
Wednesday night in Phoenix and it sent Howard out for the rest of the game with
shoulder pain. Howard will not play Friday night for L.A. against Minnesota.
In fact, he’ll be back
in Los Angeles — the Lakers sent Howard back to Los Angeles to get
Platelet-rich plasma therapy (PRP) on his shoulder, the team announced on
Friday (check out the twitter account of Lakers reporter Mike Trudell).
Howard will rejoin the
team on Sunday in Detroit, although smart money says the next game he plays is
next Tuesday against Brooklyn. At the earliest.
PRP uses the patent’s
own blood, taking the healing platelets spun out of the blood and injected back
into an area to help heal cartilage. It is basically what Kobe Bryant has done
on his knees (although that is reportedly a modified version of the procedure).
The Lakers hope that,
rest and strengthening the area will help lessen the chance of injury. Although
I’m not really sure how much stronger you can make Dwight Howard’s shoulders.
Those things are massive. Still, Howard and the Lakers are going this path
rather than surgery for now.
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