TORONTO, 29 March — Raptors’ dynamic guard Vince Carter had arthroscopic surgery on his left knee here Tuesday with doctors saying the basketball superstar should have no trouble soaring through the air next season.
Team physician Paul Marks performed the 20-minute procedure to investigate and remove inflammation in the lining of the knee joint.
“Everything went very well today,” said Marks. “We’re very pleased with the surgery and Vince is doing well.” Despite the surgery’s success, Carter will still be out for the remainder of the regular season and likely the playoffs — if the Raptors make it that far.
“We would classify the findings as a mild finding of inflammation that there were no major structural problems identified,” said Marks. “We would expect a full recovery. It would not have been aggravated by the time that he has played, but further play may have caused unnecessary damage and that risky with the joint problem.
“There’s some inflammation inside the knee and evidence problems with the tendon,” said Douglas Richards, the other Raptors team physician. “We don’t actually know which of those was contributing what percentage to his symptoms.”
Richards said the problem in the tendon is not from swelling, it is from previous structural damage that has formed scar tissue — a condition known as jumper’s knee.
“The tissue that’s inside his knee doesn’t know it’s inside Vince Carter,” said Marks. “It takes its own time to heal and we have to give it appropriate time frames to do so.” Marks said the injury could settle within 6-to-8 weeks, but is unpredictable this soon.
Marks and Richards will aid Carter with the rehabilitation of his left knee’s joint and tendon.
“One of the tissues with rehabilitating tendons as opposed to muscles is that tendons respond much more slowly to exercise,” said Richards. “A tendon injury is a much more thorough program that is measured.”
