The searing pain in Kobe Bryant’s back left him struggling to walk.
He sat in a cold tub nearly all night, but his back still felt tight. He rested hours leading into tipoff, but he still felt stiff.
So in a season in which he hoped he could log all 82 games, Bryant did the unthinkable. He sat on the bench when the Lakers visited Miami in late November. The same thing happened the next day in Orlando.
That prompted one of Bryant’s therapists, Michael Oviedo, to increase his Fusionetics treatment the Lakers’ 37-year-old star increasingly has received this season. The routine has entailed massage therapy from his legs to shoulders. Oviedo has measured Bryant’s range of motion. Then, Oviedo has treated Bryant more to fix any muscle imbalances.
The cutting-edge treatment, initially popularized by Dr. Michael Clark with the Phoenix Suns, also significantly explains how Bryant has nearly completed his 20th and final NBA season without suffering a season-ending injury.
“They’ve done a great job for the last four or five years making sure the body is in complete alignment,” Bryant said. “They’ve removed the guess work from the procedure. Things are very measured.”
The Lakers (16-64) expect Bryant will finish out the last two games, including Monday’s contest against Oklahoma City (54-26) at Chesapeake Energy Arena and the season finale against Utah on Wednesday at Staples Center. That impressed Lakers coach Byron Scott, who projected Bryant to play between 50 to 55 games after suffering season-ending ailments to his left Achilles tendon (April, 2013), left knee (Dec. 2013) and right shoulder (January 2014).
“He still hasn’t changed his mentality. Every game is still a work day. It’s ‘Every day I’m going to come out, get ready and give it everything I got,’” Scott said. “That’s the thing that has made him so great. Until Wednesday’s game is over, it’s not over.”
Hence, Bryant’s interest in Fusionetics peaked shortly after rehabbing his left Achilles injury after Lakers head athletic trainer Gary Vitti recommended it. Bryant also learned the Fusionetics treatment prolonged the longevity of Steve Nash (19 years) and Grant Hill (18 years) when they played with the Suns.
“That’s what I’ve done throughout my entire career, continuing to think progressively and continuing to look for new things,” Bryant said. “With the technology the players have available to themselves, you can really prolong a career if a player really focuses on it.”
So as Bryant struggled to move in Miami and Orlando, Oviedo provided nearly around-the-clock treatment for Bryant in hopes he could play two days later against the Mavericks. As Oviedo observed later, “By the time we got to Dallas, he was ready to go.”
“The main thing for him is to keep the risk of injury to a minimum,” Oviedo said of Bryant’s Fusionetics treatment. “You can’t stop somebody from hitting him or being a foot underneath him when he shoots a jumper. But when he goes to the hoop and he has to stop himself and change directions, I can minimize the risk of injury with what we do with him.”
Making a difference
At his Westwood facility, Oviedo recently offered this reporter the same Fusionetics treatment Bryant has received on a nearly daily basis. Nearly two hours before each game, Oviedo has measured Bryant’s range of motion by completing 10 different exercises ranging from calf raises, pushups, squats, lunges and shoulder stretches. He then has entered the data on his iPad, which then provides various suggestions for treatment.
“What’s unique about our system is the standardized testing,” said Clark, the CEO of Fusionetics and founder of the National Academy of Sports Medicine. “You input the data into a computer. Then the computer generates the score using relational analytics. Then that system works with an algorithm to create the program.”
For Bryant, Oviedo has used what he called a goniometer to measure whether Bryant’s ankles can bend at least 20 degrees. If they fall below that mark, Oviedo will massage various parts of Bryant’s feet, Achilles tendons and ankles to reach that number. The reasoning stems from Oviedo’s finding that 98 percent of leg injuries stem from muscle imbalances. Clark likened that issue toward “driving your car with a parking brake on; you’re extending way more energy than normal.”
“When he goes to stop or turn direction, if the joint can move properly, then the rest of his whole body will move properly, too,” Oviedo said. “When his moving efficiency is much much better, the risk of injury is much much less.”
Oviedo has mostly targeted Bryant’s right Achilles and right shoulder, which has felt soreness for most of the 2015-16 season. Yet, Oviedo has also focused on Bryant’s entire body to ensure balance in what medical experts call the “kinetic chain.” That way, Oviedo can minimize the chances any weak body part can cause other body parts to overcompensate and lead to further injuries.
“Wherever he is tight or lacking in the proper range of motion to move efficiently, those become the priority areas,” Oviedo said. “It doesn’t take a whole lot of work to get him up to the green light where I want him to be.”
Oviedo wasn’t exaggerating.
During Oviedo’s initial testing, this reporter’s ankles could bend at only 12 degrees. Oviedo then provided massage treatment on areas around the ankles, hip and shoulders. During that time, Oviedo also set up resistance exercises. Within five minutes, this reporters’ ankles could bend at 20 degrees.
Surely a reporter’s life style drastically differs from Bryant’s. Yet, Oviedo said that Bryant has experienced something similar with his daily treatment.
“They have years and years of case studies to back up those numbers and to justify the certain angles and percentages the joints need to be,” Bryant said. “That’s the biggest thing with them. They’ve removed the guess work from recovery.”
Knowing his body
The resume on Bryant’s 20-year NBA career will list his five NBA championships, third-place mark on the league’s all-time scoring list (33,570 points) and two U.S. Olympic gold medals. Yet, the lasting memory of Bryant will also entail other images.
He sat on the bench during one game this season wearing heat pads all over his shoulders and knees. After dislocating the middle finger of his right hand in another game, Bryant stayed on the floor by having Vitti pop the finger back into place.
Bryant also has flown to Germany in recent offseasons for non-invasive procedures on his knees. He rehabbed from surgeries on his left Achilles, left knee and right shoulder.
Bryant has worked around-the-clock with the Lakers training staff that includes Vitti, physical therapist Judy Seto, strength and conditioning coach Tim DiFrancesco and sports massage therapist Marko Yrjovuori. He typically has lifted weights three to four times a week to stay strong. And he has added Fusionetics treatment in hopes another wrinkle could give him a few extra rounds before Father Time ultimately wins.
“It’s done everything, continuing to look for new ways to train and new ways to take care of your body,” Bryant said. “You can’t help but find a way to do it. You continue to look under every single stone. Eventually you’ll find something.”
That does not just involve Bryant willingly fighting through injuries. Oviedo called Bryant “very easy to work with” because of his strong medical expertise.
“He likes to learn. You can go in and ask him what he feels and he’ll tell you exactly where he feels the tightness,” Oviedo said. “He might say, ‘My ankles don’t feel like they’re loose. Or I feel like this side of my hip is stuck.’ Based upon his feedback, I’ll go and look at it objectively and I’ll say, ‘You’re spot on.’”
With that treatment, Bryant has moved more efficiently in recent months. He may have shot a career-low 35.2 percent from the field. Yet, Bryant has logged five 30-point games, including a 35-point effort on Sunday against Houston. He no longer has needed to sit out a handful of games to rest as he did in late February through early March when he missed seven of 11 contests. After nursing soreness in his right shoulder following a dunk against Houston on Dec. 12, 2015, Bryant threw down a dunk last week against Boston without any reported hiccups.
“You see better flexibility at the ankles. Therefore, his body has stayed in a better position,” Clark said. “The knees cave into the inside less so you see the upper body move forward less. All those things can improve your shot. If your knees are caving in or your body is moving forward or you don’t get enough bend out of the ankles, that’s going to affect your shot.”
Bryant’s shot sure looked on the mark against Houston. The reasons did not just involve his scoring mentality or his strong shooting stroke. Bryant offered six words about his current state that partly traces back to his Fusionetics treatment.
Said Bryant: “My body still feels pretty good.”
