After Kobe Bryant pushed himself during the China trip and took a couple days off, there were concerns that there may have been a setback in his rehabilitation. There were reports later that day to confirm there were no setbacks and in an exclusive interview with Yahoo! Sports’ Marc Spears, Kobe shared his rehabilitation so far.
According to Bryant, he has continued to push himself and will measure how he feels each day:
“This week I’m pushing it again and measuring it and seeing how it does. I pushed it really hard [Monday], and it feels pretty good today. So I will push it again [Tuesday] night then measure it [Wednesday] morning and continue to go from there.”
When asked how he will measure how he feels, Bryant shared that the Achilles tendon is fine, but is working on the mobility and flexibility of his ankle:
“I’ll push it. I will increase the workload a lot and the next day you see how the ankle joint [feels]. At the end of the day it’s really the ankle joint. The tendon is fine, but the ankle joint from being immobilized so much is naturally stiff. So it’s about breaking through that and increasing that flexibility. If it recovers fine the next day you can push it and keep on going.”
It should be encouraging for all Lakers fans to hear that the actual Achilles tendon is healed and it is a matter of regaining the flexibility in his ankle. After numerous months off, it’s natural for the ankle joint to be immobilized and Bryant is currently working on that.
Once Bryant is able to regain full flexibility in his ankle, the next step is likely basketball activities. It’s been an amazing turnaround from April and it seems like a return around November is a strong possibility. Bryant is clearly motivated to return to the court to show the basketball world that he’s not the 25th best player in the NBA.
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