Durant originally suffered a lower leg injury in Game 5 of the Western Conference semifinals and had not played since, but with the Warriors on the brink of losing the Finals, he tried to gut it out and play through discomfort. It’s clear now that it was the wrong move, as he likely suffered a much more serious injury last night.

When Durant suffered the initial injury, the team classified it as a calf injury, but because of some of the factors surrounding the injury, including how close to the belt they were keeping the injury news and how early he was ruled out for future games, many speculated that the Achilles tendon may actually be the source of the injury. It’s clear that he didn’t suffer a full tear of the Achilles in the Conference Semifinals, but now speculation is even more rampant that there was an underlying Achilles injury based on the suspected news of a fully torn Achilles.

Durant Has MRI Coming

Durant is set to undergo an MRI later today to confirm the injury, but all signs are pointing to an Achilles injury. In fact, if we pull up an old blog on NFL running back Brandon Oliver and compare it to the video of KD’s injury, the mechanisms of injury look eerily similar. Oliver was diagnosed with a torn Achilles after suffering the injury you see below. (You might have to watch it on Youtube instead of just clicking the video below).

Kevin Durant’s injury

https://twitter.com/TheRenderNHL/status/1138272423260897280

Hopefully it ends up just being a calf injury, but if it looks like an Achilles tear and the team fears an Achilles tear, it’s probably an Achilles tear.

It’s a huge blow for Durant, who is set to become a free agent this offseason and was all but guaranteed a maximum contract offer from one if not multiple teams. It’s crazy to think that he’ll still likely get a maximum deal, but there’s a good chance he misses a large portion if not the entire season next year. His suitors will pay the price even if it means they won’t get his full potential in the first year, but whoever ends up signing him can’t be happy about how the Finals played out this year.

Durant is the reigning back-to-back NBA Finals MVP and has an NBA MVP trophy in his collection, so he clearly has the drive and work ethic to make a full recovery from whatever malady he’s diagnosed with, but hopefully his next team will really take time to ease him back onto the court, because we don’t need to rush him back out and see another setback. Wishing him the best with his MRI and treatment.

The post Warriors Believe Kevin Durant Tore His Achilles appeared first on Lance Silverman, MD - Orthopedic Foot & Ankle Surgeon.

Durant, who led the NBA in scoring each of the past five seasons, is expected to undergo a bone graft on his injured right foot, which will knock his rehab schedule back four to six months.

Here’s a statement about Durant’s injury from Thunder general manager Sam Presti:
“As we communicated last week, Kevin was going to use this time to engage in consultation and evaluation regarding the persistent soreness in his right foot at this stage of his rehabilitation. As part of this process, Kevin and Thunder personnel traveled to two additional specialists this past week; Dr. Martin O’Malley in New York City and Dr. James Nunley at Duke University. These in-person consults were designed to further supplement the previous evaluations of Dr. Bob Anderson. Several conference calls and discussions amongst the specialist team concluded that, while the majority of the soreness in Kevin’s foot was related to continued inflammation of the cuboid bone and would subside with rest, the evaluation process also determined that the Jones fracture of the fifth metatarsal, which had shown significant healing previously, was now demonstrating signs of regression.”

Presti continued, saying that Durant’s long-term health will be better protected through the bone graft operation.

“The bone graft is the standard procedure for the five to eight percent of Jones fracture surgeries that do not initially have success or experience setbacks sometime within the recovery period. While everyone is disappointed that Kevin falls into that group, we are encouraged that the bone graft procedure has historically demonstrated long-term health and stability. Dr. O’Malley will perform the bone graft surgery early next week in New York. He has extensive bone grafting experience amongst athletes and has been consulting on the case throughout. Kevin will miss the remainder of the 2014-15 season and is expected to return to basketball activities in the next four to six months.”

Dr. Silverman Breaks It All Down

First off, let me start by saying that I feel Dr. Anderson’s pain. Jones fractures are hard to manage. They heal very slowly without surgery and require 6-10 weeks of casting and nonweight bearing. More than 40 percent won’t heal without surgery.

Surgery is the more conservative approach, with a full recovery rate hovering around 95 percent. The surgical incision is 1 cm long. The procedure takes 20 minutes when you get it perfected. That said, it’s hard to do and there are tons of pitfalls that I have learned to avoid from both Dr. Anderson and Dr. Nunley. Patients are able to walk right away. They are happy, heal quickly and are back to all activity by 7-8 weeks…most of the time. Then there are cases like Durant.

There are five potential reasons why Durant’s foot didn’t heal:

1. The surgery wasn’t good enough. I seriously doubt this was the case, given that his surgeon is one of the guys who actually came up with one of the best implants on the market. Being off by a few degrees, using too long of a screw or too small of a screw can do it though.

2. The patient’s nutritional status is bad. Durant needs his vitamin D levels checked.

3. He has undiagnosed biomechanical problems. He could have ankle instability. If he lands on the outside of his foot he will stress the healing bone. Calcaneocuboid instability, high arch (pes cavus), abnormal heel shape (heel varus) or even in-toeing (metatarsus adductus) can cause the Jones fracture surgery to fail.

4. Infection. An unusual cause of non-union of this bone would be an infection, but it should always be kept in the back of the mind. At the same time of the grafting, doctors will often biopsy the non-union site to confirm no infection is present.

5. No good reason. This is the most frustrating. Sometimes the best surgeon can preform a perfect surgery on a healthy patient, and do to a fluke or seemingly random reason, a setback can occur.

It seems likely that a biomechanical issue is to blame, but we may never know for sure. Hopefully his upcoming surgery goes well and he’ll return to MVP form next season.

The post Dr. Silverman Breaks Down Kevin Durant’s Ailing Foot appeared first on Lance Silverman, MD - Orthopedic Foot & Ankle Surgeon.