Capital Games welcomes back Dr. Ray Solano, a chiropractor with a specialty in sports medicine who has been contributing posts about how injuries affect our teams.
The Washington Wizards' Bradley Beal is expected to be re-evaluated this week after suffering a stress injury to his right fibula.
The injury was diagnosed by team doctors following an MRI exam two weeks ago after Beal experienced soreness in his leg.
The Wizards proceeded to shut Beal down with the hope that the injury was caught in time to prevent further damage. The injury didn't appear serious, but stress injuries have the potential to wreak havoc on the body, like it did for Beal last year.
Prior to this recent setback, Beal was leading the league with minutes per game at 40.2. Some question if Beal was playing too much and too soon after being sidelined with a stress injury in the same leg for nearly four months last season.
The location is the proximal, or upper, area of Beal's fibula, as opposed to the distal, or lower, area injury he suffered last season. Regardless, stress injuries are generally a reaction of bone to repetitive forces. The forces contributing to the injury include both direct impact and also forces generated by the "pull" of ligaments and tendons on the bone.
A change in activity such as increasing the frequency, intensity or duration likely contributed to Beal's injury. What has been termed the "terrible too's" of too much, too often, too soon and too fast can overstress the bone before it can appropriately react to the stress by reinforcing itself by new bone growth and increased density.
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I would expect the Wizards to use caution when returning Beal to the court. Given Beal's history and mechanism of injury, I anticipate him to miss anywhere from 3-6 weeks total. This can allow for team trainers to address any deficits in strength, stability and mechanics.
There is no doubt that Beal is the future of the franchise at the shooting guard position and has been great in the early part of this season. He's averaging 20.6 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 3.5 assists while shooting 40.7 percent from the field and 43.9 percent from 3-point range.
Dr. Ray Solano is a board-certified Doctor of Chiropractic, with a specialty in sports medicine, and a frequent guest on News4 Midday. Follow @DrRaySolano on Twitter.
