Understanding Stephen Curry’s Oblique Muscle Tear
- Post By: Jeff Stotts
- Date:
- Category: NBA, Understanding...
In a season where injuries have once again dominated the headlines, former MVP Stephen Curry added his name to the list Wednesday. Curry suffered what was described at the time as right abdominal soreness, but additional imaging later determined the injury is an “oblique abdominal tear.”
Oblique injuries are often more complex than other muscle strains, largely because the obliques aren’t an isolated muscle. Collectively, there are two pairs of oblique muscles, located on either side of the rib cage. Each side is divided into subsets, the external obliques and the internal obliques. The muscle groups work synergistically with the opposite group on the opposite side to complete trunk rotation. For example, the left internal obliques contract in conjunction with the right external obliques whenever a player twists their body to the left. Collectively the obliques also assist with side-to-side bending and trunk flexion.
Strains to the obliques are functionally limiting, especially for athletes. Determining time lost for these injuries can be difficult as the specific oblique group involved or the severity of the strain is rarely reported. However, the Warriors did not call Curry’s injury a strain, instead referring to it as abdominal “tear.” This suggests the injury is more moderate to severe than a mild strain of the area.
Looking through the InStreetClothes Injury Database reveals a wide range of outcomes based on severity. The average time lost for in-season nondescript oblique strains is 13.3 days (~4.8 games), including players like Desmond Bane, Joel Embiid, and Damian Lillard. If oblique strains that were reported as Grade 2 or higher are isolated, the time lost jumps to 38 days (~16 games). It gets even worse as injuries described specifically as oblique muscle tears carry an even greater recovery timeline with these players missing an average of 61 days (~27 games).
The Warrior will re-evaluate Curry in two weeks to gauge his progression in recovery and determine if he is ready to return. History suggests he will miss additional time after that evaluation though expect the process to remain fluid.
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