Anthony Davis Injury Update: Explaining his Achilles aggravation, calf strain, and return timeline

Anthony Davis has been dealing with what the Lakers medical staff termed “Achilles tendinosis” for (at least) five games now, causing him to miss two consecutive games last week (both overtime wins vs the Oklahoma City Thunder). I made a video on that specific diagnosis if you want to check out.

Davis had a very successful return against the Memphis Grizzlies last Friday in which he showed little-to-no ill-effects from the injury, and then said he woke up feeling pain free the morning of the Nuggets game, which is a great indicator. However, that feeling didn’t last very long as he was forced to leave the game late in the second quarter, clearly favoring and feeling at the right achilles and calf region.

After an MRI on Monday, the Lakers revealed that Davis did not have an Achilles rupture, but reports are that he both re-aggravated the previous tendinosis and suffered a calf strain, and will miss at least the next 2-3 weeks, potentially waiting to return until after the All-Star break next month.

So what happened, why was Davis allowed to return, and when might he back after this latest setback? I did my best to answer those questions in the following video.

Hopefully Davis is all right moving forward, and takes however much time he needs to feel better.

Dr. Rajpal Brar has a doctorate in physical therapy from Northern Arizona University, and runs his own sports medicine and performance business, 3CB Performance, in West LA and Valencia, CA. He also works at a hospital — giving him experience with patients in the immediate healthcare setting and neurological patients (post stroke, post brain injury) — and has been practicing for 1.5 years. Brar is additionally training at UCLA’s mindful awareness research center (MARC), and analyzes the Lakers from a medical perspective for Silver Screen and Roll and Laker Film Room. You can follow him on Twitter at @3cbPerformance.