The doctor explains Steph’s ankle injury, possible timetable for return

The doctor explains Steph’s ankle injury, possible timetable for return originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

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The Warriors will be without Steph Curry for at least the next two games, both against the New Orleans Pelicans on Tuesday and Wednesday at the Chase Center.

After that? It is unclear when the superstar point guard will return to the court.

The Warriors announced Curry on Monday sustained a left peroneal strain in his ankle below Sunday’s loss to the Los Angeles Clippers and will miss both games against New Orleans before being reevaluated Friday.

NBC Sports Bay Area recently spoke with Stanford Medicine orthopedic and sports medicine surgeon David E. Oji, who provided insight into Curry’s peroneal injury, what it entails and how long the 36-year-old could be sidelined.

“From a simple, kind of mechanism that Steph essentially had, there are a lot of structures that he could damage,” said Dr. Oji to NBC Sports Bay Area Monday. “It’s not just the typical ankle sprain that we all think of when people roll their ankle. There are tendons on the outside called peroneal tendons that kind of allow you to move your foot into the outward position, called eversion .

“And you can actually stress those structures, or essentially pull on it. You can even get little tears along the tendons. In some cases, the tendon is attached to the bone. You can actually break the bone right out of the base as well, but a lot of things can arise from a simple ankle sprain.”

Even though the Warriors will reevaluate Curry on Friday, that doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll be cleared and available for Saturday’s game against the Houston Rockets at the Toyota Center. As Dr. Oji points out, the injury – depending on the severity – could sideline Curry for at least a full week.

“From my experience treating similar injuries … if they have a very simple, kind of strain on the tendon without specific tears, it could be as simple as one to two weeks of heavy rehab and making sure they’re comfortable, the mechanics are back and where they need to be and the force is 100 percent to get them back to play,” Oji said.

“If there’s a small tear or a more significant injury that’s noted on imaging, then it can take much longer to heal, up to several weeks and months.”

Fortunately for Curry and the Warriors, the injury does not appear to be serious. After the game, Warriors coach Steve Kerr gave an initial update on Curry, straight from the source.

“He’s fine,” Kerr told reporters after the game. “… He used the word ‘mild’ or ‘moderate’ – he’s obviously sprained that ankle many times before. He doesn’t think it’s that bad. But obviously it’s a concern.”

The Warriors shared in their first update on Monday that Curry’s MRI showed no structural damage, which is certainly good news.

However, how long the injury sidelines him remains to be seen.

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