Derrick Rose woke up with pain in his knee. "Uh oh," is undoubtedly the first reaction one should have. But how serious is this and what's causing it? Rose has an MRI scheduled for his knee/hamstring on Monday, but the latest Chicago Bulls buzz and rumors suggest that this shouldn't be a cause for concern.
One of the few star players to have fallen from grace due to several major injuries in recent NBA history, Rose has suffered a torn left ACL and meniscus tears on his right knee twice.
This past week, Rose was diagnosed with tendinitis in his right hamstring. That's a classic overwork injury, and Rose indulged as much.
"I'm getting better every day. It's improving every day," he said according to The Chicago Tribune. "I had a little bit of swelling. That's gone. I just have to figure out my schedule a little bit better. I'd rather have this problem of overworking myself than actually being out there in a game and something happening during the game and something serious. If anything, I just have to cut back a little bit more with my off-day workouts."
Before the Bulls game today against the Raptors, Bulls beat reporter K.C. Johnson said Rose has been working out a lot lately as his offensive rhythm has started to come back to him. Scoring 19, 25 and 20 in his last three games, respectively, Rose wasn't about to let that change or go away, and was hitting the gym early and often on his off days. That type of work ethic should be applauded, even though Rose has exhibited it for his whole career in the Association. But he also needs to understand that overworking can lead to more serious injuries, and the Bulls are handling this well.
Rose anticipated suiting up for today's game against the Toronto Raptors. He had been rehabbing his hamstring for the past week or so, and it was feeling good. Then he woke up today with soreness in the front of his knee -- the one he's had surgery on twice for his meniscus.
It's important to look at all of his past injuries including what's going on now when figuring out the severity here.
Clearly, Rose doesn't view this as anything major, and head coach Fred Hoiberg echoed those sentiments, that this was just precautionary. No reason to risk anything in January.
So, Rose had a hamstring issue. The muscles in the thigh, meaning the hamstring and quad, control the knee joint and how strong it is. The stronger and healthier those upper leg muscles and tendons are, the stronger and healthier one's knee will be. It makes sense that after putting weight on different areas of his leg and rehabbing those muscles and tendons for a week, it makes sense that his knee might be a little sore after all of that starts to feel better. It's even been referred to as "residual pain" by some.
Odds are, that's all it is. A little bit of swelling and overuse has caused some pain in his knee. Keep in mind, too, that Rose had all of his damaged cartilage in his meniscus removed in his surgery last season leading up to the playoffs. That fact makes it very unlikely that there's any issue there.
All in all, Rose will likely be just fine. All of this pain is linked to the hamstring soreness, which is linked to his slightly excessive amount of working out and practice. He hasn't even been ruled out for Tuesday's game, and there's a good chance that he'll play. We'll find out for sure tomorrow after the MRI.
Feel free to relax, Bulls nation. Rose will be back sooner than later.
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