Manu Ginobili suffering from lumbar spasms

As reported, San Antonio Spurs shooting guard Manu Ginobili will not travel with the team for the season opener tomorrow. His back injury will be re-examined Thursday, prior to their home tilt against the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Ginobili missed the final preseason game against the Washington Wizards with back spasms. That really is the extent of our knowledge on his injury.

In his column for La Nacion (hat-tip to Edg5 of Pounding the Rock for the translation), Ginobili said he was suffering with lumbar spasms on his left side.

As for me, I won’t be able to play in our first game of the season against New Orleans, since my back has really been bothering me for two or three days. I suffered from lumbar spasms on the left side. I spent a couple of days were I couldn’t even move. I missed a few practices and now I’m starting to get back, seeing how it improves day to day, working on the stationary bike and trying not to force anything. I’m feeling better but there’s no reason to risk it this early in the season.

Thanks to expert Googling, I found that lumbar spasms occur in the lower back (hence the term lumbar, I guess). Lumbar spasms are simply involuntary contractions of the back and can be caused by sudden movements, something that may have happened during a game. Movements, as Ginobili explained, can be difficult. Rest is advised for an injury of this nature though, if the pain doesn’t subside in one to two weeks, cortisone may be necessary.

It’s doubtful Ginobili’s injury is that severe, especially considering Tony Parker said it was a “veteran move” to miss practice.

We’ll see but it’s too early to be worried about Ginobili.