James Harden Details Early Injury Recovery Process
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Two weeks ago, Philadelphia 76ers star James Harden felt his foot tingling after going down with an apparent injury in a matchup against the Washington Wizards.
After getting his foot wrapped up after coming out of the game, Harden continued playing for the Sixers as they went on to fall short against the Wizards. After the game, Harden was visibly in pain as a result of the injury he suffered.
The following morning, Harden underwent an MRI to get his foot checked out. After going through tests, the star guard was diagnosed with a tendon strain. The Sixers mentioned he would be re-evaluated in approximately two weeks, and the predicted target for Harden's return was set at about a month.
The following day after Harden's official diagnosis, Sixers head coach Doc Rivers revealed that the ten-time All-Star was going to spot a walking boot for the first week of his recovery. When Harden was first spotted at the Sixers' last Saturday matchup against the Atlanta Hawks, he was no longer wearing the boot, showing positive signs of his recovery early on.
"The first week was basically letting everything fall back into place," Harden said. "Then you kind of just build up from there."
There isn't much Harden can do on the court. As Rivers previously explained, Harden would not have the opportunity to take the court right away after shaking the boot.
"You got the rehab, the pool workouts, the AlterG, and the treadmill, but it's helping you run at a nice pace," Harden continued. "Once the pain fully goes away, then you start going to the court. Then you got just a week of building the cardio up and things like that. I feel good."
Harden mentioned that the pain in his foot has gone down at this point. And while the boot caused ankle and foot stiffness, which forced him out of the boot earlier than anticipated, the star guard returned to the court for a post-practice shootaround on Thursday afternoon.
"I started off with a boot, but the boot kind of made my ankle and my foot stiff," Harden revealed. "I took the boot off after maybe four or five days. I wasn't supposed to, but it wasn't doing good. I'm just shooting and trying to get my bounce back, getting up shots, and things like that. I didn't shoot yesterday, I shot today. Then just keep building from there."
Harden remains out for the Sixers as they resume their schedule on Friday night with a matchup against the Milwaukee Bucks. While Harden didn't set a date for his desired return, he hinted that he's on pace with the month-long timeline that was initially reported.
Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for All76ers, a Sports Illustrated channel. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.
