As a #HaywardTruther, I see every positive step forward in his rehab as him being one step closer to returning at some point during the playoffs.
Today, Hayward posted a a rehab update on his website… classifying it as mostly boring and tough to get through mentally.
And while I’m sure it’s boring and taxing for him, I’m excited about this part of the update.
This is the first time I’ve ever used the AlterG, and if you don’t know what it is, it uses air pressure technology to allows you to rehab without putting your full body weight on your legs. It’s like you don’t have the full effect of gravity on you (which is where the name comes from). When you set it to 20% or 30% of your body weight, it feels like you’re so much lighter and you’re just kind of walking on air. It kind of helps me slowly progress and still get the same range of motion that I would normally be getting, so that’s really cool.
The next phase of my progression is to be able to do a single-leg calf raise, and do repetitions of it, and not have fatigue or any pain or anything. And so, that’s kind of where I’m at, like slowly progressing on the AlterG. I started at like 30% of my body weight, doing a single-leg calf raise. And now we’re slowly up to like 70%, 75%. And so, I’m almost there, being able to do a single-leg calf raise. Once I am able to do that, then I can do the elliptical.
And once I’m cleared doing the elliptical for a certain time and distance, then I’m able to start running.
So he’s up to 70-75% bodyweight on a single calf raise. Once he’s at 100% he can start using the elliptical and after that… running.
He’s not close. The team isn’t lying when it says that. It’s not even February and, by my count, he’s got a solid couple of months to continue this rehab and strengthening.
When you consider he’s been at this for three months and he’s already this far, getting to running and jumping in the next couple of months doesn’t seem out of the question.
I’ll admit, I’m much more bullish on his return than others. I think this update puts him right in line to come back later in the playoff run.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
