Apparently "Sports Kinesiologist" Zig Ziegler (not the sales guru) consulted with the Blazers at the request of Tom Penn. He was asked to do a Biomechanic Assesment with Greg Oden.
http://zigsports.wordpress.com/2012/04/05/greg-oden-brandon-roy-what-what-happened/
From Zig's notes...
Oden’s Right knee appears to have recovered from the surgery. Data indicates the ability to bear weight almost normally in the right leg’s Quadriceps and Hamstring muscles. However, a deeper look at the data indicates that Oden’s normal gait patterns have altered to compensate for weaknesses in his right lower leg. And as a result, does not distribute weight appropriately throughout the entire right leg. To compensate for the original injury and lower leg weaknesses, Oden has started to bear at times as much as 144% of his weight on the left leg (Ex.: during running trial at 7.0mph for 15 seconds, ROM 10.8 degrees extension L compared to 4.4 degrees of extension R). To compensate, Oden’s right leg excessively internally rotates during extension (push off) at lower speeds. While at higher rates of speed excessively abducts and externally rotates indicating circumduction of the right leg. This action can lead to hip pain on the right side, lower back pain/injury and opposite side knee pain as rotational forces cause the opposite knee to twist and as a result may cause the quadriceps muscles to overload to resist the rotation. This could be the cause of the left leg Patella Tendonitis.
And the Blazer's training staff's response.
And you can believe it or not, but the medical staff laughed off my recommendations. In fact, we spent nearly two hours at dinner with the medical staff questioning my results and looking for reasons to discredit the results rather than search for solutions to keep the team’s multimillion dollar athlete on the court. At one point, one member of the medical staff informed me that Greg suffered from a true anatomical leg length shortness on the right side. As a result of that diagnosis, Greg had been prescribed, by physicians, to wear a heel lift in his right shoe. Well doc, I hate to be the one to tell you again, but the heel lift actually increases the load and the amount of anterior/posterior shear (forward/backward sliding) on Greg’s right knee, contributing to his need to undergo several micro-fracture surgeries.
If this is true could there be a lawsuit? Do the players have a leg to stand on?
