Rick Carlisle stated today that Dorian Finney-Smith “will be out a while” due to quad tendonitis. Let’s take a look into the injury that has limited DFS to only 12 games this year.
First things first, let’s go over what the quad is and what it does, that way we can dive into the mechanism of this injury. The quadriceps is a group of four muscles that make up your big ole thigh muscle. The quad attaches to the patella (kneecap) by way of a tendon, and then the patella to your shin with the patella tendon. So, the quad and patella act together as a pulley system to straighten the leg.
With quad tendonitis, there’s pain above the kneecap. The injury normally occurs when the muscle is overstressed. Basketball involves a lot of starting, stopping, and jumping, all of which contribute to increased stress to the muscle and tendon.
Treatment for these types of injuries start with decreasing the pain and inflammation. Finney-Smith has been dealing with this injury since October and it’s prevented him from really getting into a groove on court. He’ll probably be going through a regiment of stretching and strengthening within his pain tolerance. Once he’s pain free with those (relatively of course), then it’s back to incorporating basketball activities.
We’re hoping for a quick recovery. Injuries like these can take as quick as a week or so to clear up or up to 4-6 weeks as well. In the meantime, Rick is going to have to get creative with his lineups.
Mavs Beat 