Dwayne Wade – Heel Pain & Ankle Sprains

Miami Heat’s Dwayne Wade returned to action on Tuesday after missing 3 games and many practices over the last week.   He had been ‘taking it easy’ during that time in order to recover from heel pain.  The team had reported he was recovering from a ‘bruised foot’ that occurred against the Charlotte Bobcats. When the injury didn’t resolve after a week, Wade speculated that the injury may be his plantar fascia.  Whether he was fully recovered or not Wade seemed to have any problems in the game against the Golden State Warriors.  Unfortunately, the team hasn’t secured a win since his return and Wade’s injuries have mounted.  He strained his calf against the LA Clippers on Wednesday and sprained his ankle Friday against the Denver Nuggets.

Wade was concerned that he may have broken something as he’d ‘never sprained it like that before’.   With any ankle injury, it is important to rule out fractures with x-rays.   NBA players are liked to get to an x-ray quicker than you or I, but it is important to RICE (rest, ice, compression, elevation) any kind of ankle injury as excessive swelling can often make the problem worse.  Your body uses swelling to supply healing nutrients to the site and protect it.  The ankle joint often cannot easily accommodate large amounts of swelling and can complicate the injury.  For ankle injuries like this, an early treatment would be an injection to the ankle with a local anesthetic to relieve pain as well as a corticosteroid to help reduce swelling.   Doctor’s will most likely recommend early physical therapy as ankle sprains can become chronic if not treated aggressively.

While the ankle injury appears to have occurred on its own, we have to wonder if the heel pain played any part in problems over the last few games.  Heel pain can have many causes and all are not as straight forward as we have tried to point out before.  A thorough evaluation by a podiatric physician will identify the cause of your pain and the best course to correct it.  We hope Mr. Wade heals quickly and is able to get back on the court.