Blake Griffin Knee Injury

Clips’ Griffin out 6 weeks with broken kneecap
By GREG BEACHAM, AP Sports Writer
Oct 28, 1:38 am EDT

LOS ANGELES (AP)—Blake Griffin is about to add patience to his repertoire of basketball skills while his broken left kneecap heals.

It’s a vital quality for somebody trying to turn around the Los Angeles Clippers.

The NBA’s No. 1 overall draft pick will be out for up to six weeks with the stress fracture, likely delaying his debut until mid-December—and creating one more reason to believe there’s a curse on this star-crossed franchise.

“It’s disappointing, especially when it happened, but I’m not going to feel sorry for myself,” Griffin said Tuesday at the club’s Playa Vista training complex. “Everybody plays with a certain amount of pain, but it is a fine line, because you do want to take care of your body and make it easier on yourself.”

Griffin watched the Clippers’ 99-92 season-opening loss the Lakers on Tuesday night from behind the bench in a three-piece suit and blue tie, waving to fans shouting encouragement from the stands. The former Oklahoma star won’t be allowed back into practice until his fracture has healed in several weeks.

Griffin wore shorts and no knee protection while watching the Clippers’ morning shootaround. He will undergo bone stimulation and special blood treatments that will limit his activities for at least a month, and he plans to swim for exercise.

Coach Mike Dunleavy believes the process will be frustrating, but hopefully instructive for a power forward whose relentless work ethic sometimes leads him to rush his recovery time and even play through pain unnecessarily.

“He needs to be more honest with his body and with our medical personnel,” Dunleavy said. “There are times when he’s telling us he’s fine, he’s good, and he’s feeling some pain. … He understands better the potential consequences now. Give us the information, and we’ll decipher it and figure out what you should play through, but I think he understands now.”

Griffin was hurt during a preseason game last Friday, wincing in pain as he came down from a dunk late in the third quarter. He claimed as recently as Monday afternoon that he would play through the discomfort, but an MRI revealed the stress fracture Monday.

“He could play on it, but it won’t get better,” Dunleavy said. “Once that became apparent, there was no question: Let’s shut it down. Him playing at a lesser level isn’t going to do us much good.”

While he’s out, the Clippers will move on with a fairly solid roster. Marcus Camby(notes), Chris Kaman(notes), Rasual Butler(notes), Craig Smith(notes) and Al Thornton(notes) all are capable of playing significant frontcourt minutes.

Dunleavy isn’t sure whether the broken kneecap is related to the bruise that Griffin sustained on the same knee in late September. That injury didn’t keep him from playing in the preseason, when he averaged 13.7 points and 8.1 rebounds while appearing fully ready for the NBA challenge.

Griffin’s short tenure with Los Angeles already has been dotted by injuries, starting with a strained right shoulder during summer league play in Las Vegas.

Clippers fans wish they could say they’re shocked by the latest development, but few still doubt the power of the Clipper Curse.

Los Angeles has just two winning seasons in the last 30 years and just one playoff series victory since moving to town in 1984. The Clippers also have a long history of disappointing draft picks, including a pair of No. 1 overall choices that didn’t dazzle.

Danny Manning played just 26 games in his rookie season in 1988-89 after tearing his knee ligament and undergoing surgery, though he eventually became an All-Star before fleeing town on his broken-down joints. Michael Olowokandi(notes), the top pick in 1998, played just 45 games in his rookie season, and he wasn’t much help even when healthy during five underachieving seasons.

Griffin insists his injuries and his franchise’s past have nothing to do with each other.

“It’s not something that requires surgery,” he said. “It’s not something where I’m going to be out for six months, half a year.”

Griffin was the consensus college player of the year with 22.7 points and an NCAA-best 14.4 rebounds per game last season for the Sooners. Shortly after arriving in Los Angeles, he announced he didn’t believe in any Clipper Curse— and he hopes to prove he’s right when he’s finally healthy.

“It’s a setback, but it’s not major,” Griffin said. “It’s something that I can work through, and hopefully use this to work on other things to get better.”


Chiropractor, Fairfax VA

Study Finds the Availability of Chiropractic Care Improves the Value of Health Benefits Plans

Study Finds the Availability of Chiropractic Care Improves the Value of Health Benefits Plans


Foundation for Chiropractic Progress commissions landmark report delivers incremental impact on population health and total health care spending

Carmichael, CA - October 20, 2009 - A report, prepared by a global leader for trusted human resources and related financial advice, products and services, finds that the addition of chiropractic care for the treatment of low back and neck pain will likely increase value-for-dollar in US employer-sponsored health benefit plans. Authored by Niteesh Choudhry, MD, PhD, and Arnold Milstein, MD, the report can be fully downloaded at:

Full Report Download

Accordingly, this report was commissioned by the Foundation for Chiropractic Progress (www.f4cp.com) to summarize the existing economic studies of chiropractic care published in peer-reviewed scientific literature, and to use the most robust of these studies to estimate the cost-effectiveness of providing chiropractic insurance coverage in the US.

According to Gerard Clum, DC, spokesperson for the Foundation for Chiropractic Progress and President of Life Chiropractic College West, ?While some studies reflect cost efficiencies and others clinical efficiencies, these findings strongly support both for chiropractic care of neck pain and low back pain.?

Executive Summary:

Low back and neck pain are extremely common conditions that consume large amounts of health care resources. Chiropractic care, including spinal manipulation and mobilization, are used by almost half of US patients with persistent back-pain seeking out this modality of treatment.

The peer-reviewed scientific literature evaluating the effectiveness of US chiropractic treatment for patients with back and neck pain suggests that these treatments are at least as effective as other widely used treatments. However, US cost-effectiveness studies have methodological limitations.

High quality randomized cost-effectiveness studies have to date only been performed in the European Union (EU). To model the EU study findings for US populations, researchers applied US insurer-payable unit price data from a large database of employer-sponsored health plans. The findings rest on the assumption that the relative difference in the cost-effectiveness of low back and neck pain treatment with and without chiropractic services are similar in the US and the EU.

The results of the researchers' analysis are as follows:

-Effectiveness: Chiropractic care is more effective than other modalities for treating low back and neck pain.

Total cost of care per year:

-For low back pain, chiropractic physician care increases total annual per patient spending by $75 compared to medical physician care.

-For neck pain, chiropractic physician care reduces total annual per patient spending by $302 compared to medical physician care.

Cost-effectiveness: When considering effectiveness and cost together, chiropractic physician care for low back and neck pain is highly cost-effective, represents a good value in comparison to medical physician care and to widely accepted cost-effectiveness thresholds.

These findings, in combination with existing US studies published in peer-reviewed scientific journals, suggest that chiropractic care for the treatment of low back and neck pain is likely to achieve equal or better health outcomes at a cost that compares very favorable to most therapies that are routinely covered in US health benefits plans. As a result, the addition of chiropractic coverage for the treatment of low back and neck pain at prices typically payable in US employer-sponsored health benefit plans will likely increase value-for-dollar by improving clinical outcomes and either reducing total spending (neck pain) or increasing total spending (low back pain) by a smaller percentage than clinical outcomes improve.

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About F4CP

A not-for-profit organization, the Foundation for Chiropractic Progress (F4CP) embraces a singular mission to promote positive press for the profession in national, regional and local media. Through effective and ongoing initiatives, the Foundation?s goal is to raise awareness to the many benefits provided by doctors of chiropractic. The F4CP relies upon strategic marketing campaigns that span prominent spokespersons, monthly press releases, public service announcements, and advertisements in high-profile media outlets. To learn more about the Foundation, please visit us on the web at www.foundation4cp.com or call 866-901-f4cp.