SUMMARY
- Knee contusions and injuries are growing increasingly common in the NBA.
- Contusions are less severe while torn ligaments and fractures require longer rehabilitation periods.
Knee contusions appear to be a growing problem that NBA stars have been forced to deal with and fight through in order to return to the court. Many NBA fans might be aware that New York Knicks star Jalen Brunson recently sustained a knee contusion during a matchup against Donovan Mitchell and the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Brunson is just one in a long list of players who have fallen victim to yet another form of knee injury. Fans who pay a lot of money to buy tickets and watch their favorite players on the court will certainly be devastated if their preferred star sits out due to an injury that they do not fully understand. Therefore, a closer look at the details surrounding knee injuries and contusions should certainly be interesting to find out more on.
What can cause a knee contusion?
When it comes to knee injuries, can widely be classified into fractures, contusions, or ligament tears. They can also be divided into contact and non-contact injuries. However, there is no clear-cut way to claim that non-contact injuries are better since each injury is specific and affects the athlete in question differently.
Although the players tend to find walking or playing basketball following a knee contusion quite difficult, it can be considered a relatively easy injury to recover from. However, the same cannot be said in all similar cases.
Knee injuries have been quite common for NBA players
One could argue that lower extremity injuries to the knees or ankles are the most common for NBA players. After all, basketball is a sport that requires a lot of running, jumping, and changing direction. Therefore, sustaining an injury at some point in time is almost inevitable for every single athlete.
While contusions aren’t that serious, sustaining a torn knee ligament, like in the case of 76ers star Joel Embiid, can be considered significantly more serious and should be addressed cautiously. In most ligament tear or fracture cases, surgery is required and could keep the player out for several months.