Aspetar Holds The Key To Philadelphia 76ers And Joel Embiid’s Future

Joel Embiid latest update finds him in Qater at the Aspetar Sport Medicine Clinic. Regardless of the reason, Aspetar now holds the key to the future of Joel Embiid, and therefore, the Philadelphia 76ers

The NBA is entering a period of panic, last minute shuffling, players moving to playoff teams, players and their overpaying contracts being dumped from playoff teams.  But in any case, the news headlines fill with the events and possibilities of player transactions, literally choking off the stream of any other NBA related news.  That is, unless the news is about a young man’s whose own future, and that of his hopeful NBA franchise, hangs on the balance of his healthy return to competition.  And so it was, the announcement just before the trade deadline, of Joel Embiid’s trip to Doha, Qatar to visit the Aspetar Sports Podiatry center.

But why? Why now? Is this good news, bad news, or no news? There are three possible scenarios for this event, and they are:

(1) Routine checkup – this will be the story that will be released.  This is the patented “these aren’t the droids you’re looking for.  move along” version of press releases.

(2) Confirming health before team pulls trigger on a mega – trade.  We’ll know that soon enough, in less than twelve hours.  Most likely a long shot chance.

(3) Preemptive examination to assure team Joel Embiid can begin to exert on the foot.  This feels like the most likely scenario.   The foot of Joel Embiid is healing, but the only measure of gauging that healing process is to await pain, and then evaluate that pain through various imaging and therapy techniques.  The only other method is a routine imaging exam which illustrates the actual bone mass.  But these are set up periodically, and therefore can miss a blip in healing until the next picture taker catches it.

So is this a bad sign?  Well, before we dive into unknowns and speculation, lets define what we DO know. Aspetar is located in the Middle East nation of Qatar, and has recently opened a cutting edge technology Sports Podiatry center.  Joel Embiid has recently had his second surgery to repair his right foot.   We had summarized that surgery and the events leading up to it at the time, as the team pulled together world specialists and arrived at a consensus to the best course of treatment.

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Now there are sports podiatry centers around the world, so why use one so far from Philadelphia? Well, the fact that Joel Embiid hails from Cameroon is one reason.  Qatar is just 2,846 miles from Cameroon – or just slightly more than a trip from Philadelphia to Los Angeles, California.
Secondly, the Philadelphia 76ers have demonstrated repeatedly that they will spare no expense to see to the well-being of Embiid.  And thirdly, the science of Sports Podiatry is relatively young, and Aspetar is one of the leading facilities in the young field.  But why now?

Well, to understand the reason, we need to dive deeper into the medicine of the foot for athletes: a.k.a. Sports Podiatry.  This specialty focuses in the diagnosis, management and prevention of foot and lower limb injuries and disorders. These conditions range from arch pain, heel pain and shin splints through to anterior knee pain and lower back pain.  In Aspetar, their experienced podiatrists use cutting edge tools, such as high-speed video, in-shoe plantar pressure and electromyo graphic analysis, to provide an in-depth understanding of the biomechanical factors contributing to any specific injury.  While much of the health of Embiid’s foot issues are behind him, the group at Aspetar are leading the world in the recovery and monitoring aspect of his specific type of injury.

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There, podiatric treatments focus on improving the function of the lower limb and reducing an excessive load on injured areas through stretching, strengthening, footwear advice, training advice and the use of foot orthoses. At Aspetar, they even have access to a full digital orthotic laboratory where the podiatrists are able to design and manufacture fully individualized custom foot orthoses that may be then fitted to an Athlete’s footwear. Orthoses are engineered devices which aid the body alignment, support an injured area, and increase mobility while improving rehabilitation results.  In short, the physicians at Aspetar can custom design inserts into Joel Embiid’s athletic shoes which serve to both maintain his health as well as facilitate his training.   They have a world renowned reputation as a leader in the field, and have served both Olympic and World Champions across a wide range of sports.  While other clinics can do orthetics, none are more advanced in sports podiatry.

While the news that Joel Embiid is at a world renowned sports podiatry clinic can mean many things, the key of interpreting without facts to the contrary is to place this in a “jurisprudence” setting.  Embiid is a key player in the projections of the Philadelphia 76ers, and his recovery is being monitored by a leader in the field of sports medicine, Dr. David T. Martin.  So far this year, his attitude and training have followed the rigid requirements to restore his foot to health.  With the type of injury he had suffered, the team is wise to ensure as much preventative measure is in place as possible.