Dwight Howard was hurting more than he let on last season, the Lakers center (then with Orlando) says that the back issues he was enduring extended down to his legs which rendered his left leg “dead.” Since then Howard has undergone back surgery and hopes to be in the Lakers lineup on opening night, but says last season he couldn’t even perform a standing calf raise due to the pain.
“What a lot of people don’t know is when I hurt my back, it affected my nerves to the point where my whole left leg just went dead basically,” the Lakers center said Thursday. “I couldn’t do a calf raise.
“When I went to see the doctor right before I was traded, he said ‘Most guys don’t recover as fast as you did, especially when it affects your nerve down your leg,’ it usually takes a year for your leg to regain strength.”
