LeBron James’ ‘strategic’ load management for ankle, explained
Let’s take a closer look at how LeBron James is managing his peroneal tendinopathy and why he missed the Lakers game against the Bucks.
Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James has been dealing with an ankle problem for the majority of the season. Specifically, his injury has been peroneal tendinopathy, which refers to a tendon that curves around the outside (lateral) part of your ankle near the bony protrusion (lateral malleolus) and then down to the outside of the foot.
For more information on the injury itself, check out my piece from earlier this season.
LeBron has been managing the issue for the majority of the season but his management came into the national spotlight when he missed the recent game against the Milwaukee Bucks. Before the contest, he told TNT sideline reporter Chris Haynes that he has to be “strategic” with how he is managing his foot.
In the following video, I took a closer look at LeBron’s — who works closely with his trainer Mike Mancias — approach and why it’s a unique one in the NBA.
It truly is a “day-to-day” assessment that relies on LeBron’s second-to-none understanding of his own body. Coach Darvin Ham recently spoke at length about the process as well after the team’s game against the Bucks.
“We just take things one day at a time,” Ham said. “That’s all you can really do. Just the communication between Mike Mancias along with the rest of our performance team, myself, Rob Pelinka, and myself.”
Moving forward into the final regular season games and the play-in, the strategic management will become even more of a priority as the games start to mean even more.
Dr. Rajpal Brar, DPT has a doctorate in physical therapy from Northern Arizona University, and runs his own in-person and online sports medicine and performance business, 3CB Performance, in West LA and Valencia, CA and partners with Quantum Performance in which he further combines his movement expertise and fitness training background to rehab & train elite athletes. He also works at a hospital — giving him experience with patients in the immediate healthcare setting and neurological patients (post stroke, post brain injury) — and has been practicing for over 5 years.
Brar is additionally training at UCLA’s mindful awareness research center (MARC), has a background in youth basketball coaching and analyzes the Lakers from a medical and skills perspective for Silver Screen and Roll and on his own YouTube Channel. You can follow him on Twitter at @3cbPerformance.