Brent Barry Tears Plantaris Muscle In Left Calf

[Kori Ellis]

SAN ANTONIO – The San Antonio Spurs today announced that an MRI revealed that Brent Barry tore the plantaris muscle in his left calf. The injury occurred during the first quarter of the Spurs vs. Chicago Bulls game on Dec. 26.

[timvp]

:pctoss

Why the hell was he playing? He was obviously hurt going into the game.

Stupid.

[Dex]

:( Oh noes.

Is there a doctor in the house?

[Spurminator]

Udoka time.

[Holt's Cat]

Sounds like a 'miss a few months' kind of injury.

[picnroll]

Down two swing men.

[ATX Spur]

Grrrrrrrr. Is anyone familiar with this type of injury? Is it season ending?

[Holt's Cat]

A muscle tear would seem to guarantee a lengthy absence.

[timvp]

Ike Diogu tore his calf earlier this year and missed seven weeks. Sounds like Barry could be out until the All-Star break.

Luckily Barry is probably the best Spur at returning from injury. It seems like he always comes back on fire whenever he's forced to miss games due to injury.

Still, I don't understand why a guy is playing in December when he checks into the game with a tire on his leg.

[MannyIsGod]

Quick googling reveals the following:

Plantaris strain — The plantaris is a thin muscle that begins at the lower end of the femur (the large bone of the upper leg), stretches across the knee joint and attaches to the back of the heel along with the Achilles tendon. Because the plantaris doesn't contribute much force in bending the knee, a tear in this muscle may not seriously affect your knee function. However, a severe plantaris strain can cause significant pain, usually at the back of your calf rather than near the knee. A plantaris strain can occur alone or accompany a gastrocnemius strain or a tear of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), a major, stabilizing ligament in the knee.

To help simplify diagnosis and treatment, doctors often classify muscle strains into three different grades, depending on the severity of muscle fiber damage.

* Grade I — Only a few muscle fibers are stretched or torn, so the muscle is mildly tender and painful, but muscle strength is normal.


* Grade II — A greater number of muscle fibers are torn, so there is more severe muscle pain and tenderness, together with mild swelling, noticeable loss of strength and sometimes bruising (called ecchymosis).


* Grade III — The muscle tears all the way through. Either it rips into two separate pieces or the fleshy part of the muscle breaks away from the tendon. Grade III muscle strains are serious injuries that cause complete loss of muscle function, as well as considerable pain, swelling, tenderness and discoloration. A Grade III strain also causes a break in the normal outline of the muscle, often producing an obvious dent or gap under the skin where the ripped pieces of muscle have come apart.

[whottt]

I think that injury is one a lot of tennis players get...I don't think it's a particularly bad injury...I do think it hurts like a bitch when you get one though.

Calve muscles are insanely tough plus they tend to heal the fastest....in weight lifting they are just about the hardest muscle to develop because they are so hard to tear and they do recover so quickly.

He might be out two months max IMO.

[polandprzem]

:pctoss

Why the hell was he playing? He was obviously hurt going into the game.

Stupid.

It's just Barry


j/k

But seriously if he will be in play on March I will be satisfied.
Well it could bring some good to spurs. More playing time for Ime, fresher Brent etc.

I know what you want to say. That our big 3 will have to extend some minutes. Not necessery, we can play bigger ball with Bonner and Elson.

[Bruno]

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/scorecard/nbanews.asp?articleID=220865

Spurs' Barry out with torn calf

San Antonio, TX (Sports Network) - San Antonio Spurs guard Brent Barry is expected to miss up to two weeks with a torn plantaris muscle in his left calf.

The injury occurred during the first quarter of the Spurs' game versus the Chicago Bulls game on Wednesday and an MRI revealed the severity of the problem on Thursday.

Barry is averaging 7.7 points and 2.0 rebounds in 24 games for the defending world champs this season.

[timvp]

Bruno beat me to it. But yeah, "up to two weeks" must mean the real diagnosis is just a run of the mill calf strain. Because Vaughn missed longer than that with his calf strain in training camp.

Perhaps that report is wrong, though.

[whottt]

* Grade III — The muscle tears all the way through. Either it rips into two separate pieces or the fleshy part of the muscle breaks away from the tendon. Grade III muscle strains are serious injuries that cause complete loss of muscle function, as well as considerable pain, swelling, tenderness and discoloration. A Grade III strain also causes a break in the normal outline of the muscle, often producing an obvious dent or gap under the skin where the ripped pieces of muscle have come apart.


Qualifier to my earlier statement: if it was a complete tear he could be out for quite a while.

[ss1986v2]

well, i know wikipedia is not a credible source, but it seems that the plantaris muscle isnt that big of a deal.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plantaris_muscle

its a vestigial muscle (meaning its lost most if not all of its original function to the body), its often harvested for reconstructive surgeries, and about 9% of the population doesnt even have them anymore.

and from several other internet sources, it seems most of the actually pain cause by this injury is due to the swelling of the surrounding muscle/tendons.

he will still be out a bit to recover, but i dont think its going to be too big of an issue (no longer than a month or so). *fingers crossed*

[boutons_]

sidelined for 2 weeks, plus at least a week to get back in game shape and undo the atrophy of resting his leg.

I bet Pop is kicking himself and will now be super slow in bringing Brent back, esp in Jan/Feb, maybe even waiting until after ASB.

[Bruno]

Another report says 10-14 days.
http://www.insidehoops.com/blog/?p=225


Barry is expected to miss 10-to-14 days.

McDonald says up to two weeks :
http://blogs.mysanantonio.com/weblogs/courtside/archives/2007/12/jeff_mcdonald_b_4.html

December 27, 2007
Jeff McDonald: Barry could miss two weeks

An MRI on Brent Barry's left calf taken Thursday revealed a torn plantaris muscle that could keep the Spurs reserve guard on the shelf for up to two weeks.

Barry had been experiencing soreness in the calf for a while, and did not practice in the two days leading up to Wednesday's victory over the Bulls. He said before the game he felt well enough to give it a go, but lasted just one minute.

Stretching for a high pass from Tim Duncan, Barry came down in obvious pain and had to leave the game.

Barry is averaging 7.7 points and two assists in 19.2 minutes per game this season, and is shooting 45.3 percent from the 3-point stripe (39-86).

With Barry and Manu Ginobili both out, the Spurs are suddenly thin on the wing. It should mean a continued uptick in playing time for Ime Udoka and, via domino effect, Matt Bonner.

[ChumpDumper]

Not a big deal.

[TMTTRIO]

well Udoka and Williams will be getting some good minutes then and hopefully Manu comes back really soon.

[polandprzem]

Hopefully it is the last injury (good they all are quite minor) this season

[timvp]

Pop was extra cautious with Vaughn specifically because it was a calf injury. Calf injuries can linger if you don't let them heal. I'm going to guess that two week prognosis will turn out to be closer to three or four weeks.

But yeah, doesn't seem to be as bad as Diogu's injury earlier this year.

[whottt]

sidelined for 2 weeks, plus at least a week to get back in game shape and undo the atrophy of resting his leg.

I bet Pop is kicking himself and will now be super slow in bringing Brent back, esp in Jan/Feb, maybe even waiting until after ASB.



If the team is playing well Barry might not even get back in the rotation....it's happened to other players before.


Pop didn't want to see him get hurt, but I personally think Pop loves it when the Spurs can't rely on offense to win games and aren't scoring a lot of points...gives him a chance to get the the players to focus on defense as a means of winning games.

Pop will turn this into a positive and use it as an excuse to start hammering on the d...he always does.

[polandprzem]

I'm useless on this board ...

No money no nothing

[ancestron]

theyz droppin like flies

[MoSpur]

Two weeks sounds good. That will give more playing time to Udoka and possibly Williams.

[bigfundamental21]

Well, Barry should have never even played in last night's game. He will probably miss more than two weeks, but like everyone has said, it will only give guys opportunities to get into the rotation. Barry was doing well so far this season. Hopefully, he can pick up where he left off when he returns.

[Phenomanul]

I was diagnosed with a Grade II tear of that same muscle on my left calf 4 weeks ago... It still bothers me.

Having said that, I began to play competitive soccer and recreational basketball about 2 weeks ago.

On a side note, "Irony" will be defined if I lose to whottt's Azzholes this week (especially if the margin of defeat would have been overcome by Barry's 5-7 fantasy point average). :madrun

[whottt]

My Azzholes are notoriously hard to defeat...although it's looking like Ruff might finally end my string of victories.

[AFBlue]

So how does this affect Williams' status with the Spurs? I assume he'll be kept on as a precaution into January and possibly thereafter....probably only getting PT in blowouts.

Anyone think he still gets released before the New Year?

[loveforthegame]

Whew. I read the headline and thought it was going to be much worse. A couple weeks doesn't sound so bad. Especially with Finley and Udoka playing well.

I also wonder if they'll hang on to Williams or look for another option for insurance.

The schedule (going 2 weeks to today) looks like this for the next 2 weeks:

vs Toronto
vs Memphis
@ Denver
vs Knicks (Denver/NYK b2b set)
@ Clippers
@ Warriors (Clippers/Warriors b2b set)
vs Detroit

[Vingianx]

http://www.nba.com/spurs/news/barry_071227.html

out 10-14 days apparently

[FirebatMIV]

The Spurs have about 8 games in that 14 day period, and if it was anyone but Pop, I'd be worried.

[T Park]

No problemo.

I love all the hindsight BS

"He shouldn't have played, WTF was pop thinking"

:lol

Unreal.

[Darkwaters]

I guess this is where the article "Spurs Udoka finally gets a shot" should have been written and not earlier in the season.

[spursfan09]

This sucks. we just keep getting injuries. Hopefully we will get lucky when playoffs come and everyone is as healthy as can be.

[SpursIndonesia]

Give Barry a month of rest, it will rejuvenate him for the SPAM run next spring.

[Mr.Bottomtooth]

Very unforturnate for Brent.
Although it is now officially Udoka and Williams time. :hungry:

[WalterBenitez]

2 weeks plus caution period plus POP pesimism, okey I guess Brent will be out for a motnh or so