Really great insight from Dr. Flynn, on the Patriots' current state of health

[Soul_Survivor88]

I really enjoyed this read. Please follow Dr. Jessica Flynn on twitter, if you haven't done so already (@jessdeede)

Patriots Injury Thoughts from Week 1

- re: Derek Rivers, Julian Edelman, and Cyrus Jones "I suspect the reason that ACL tears are so common in the NFL is that athletes are getting stronger and cutting harder and ACLs are staying the same size. Lots of stress on a little ligament means more non-contact ligament tears."

- re: Malcolm Mitchell " In college, Mitchell had an ACL tear in college and underwent ACL reconstruction. A year later he had a second arthroscopic procedure to “repair cartilage” in the same knee. Meniscus tears are common with ACL injuries so the cartilage repaired could have been the meniscus. The other possibility is that Mitchell has articular cartilage problems in that knee (focal arthritis)...I think that this is most likely an acute on chronic cartilage issue. It seems that conservative treatments have not allowed him to reliably be on the field so either a prolonged period of rest (with steroid inj, PRP, etc) or knee surgery are not out of the question."

- re: Danny Amendola and Dont’a Hightower "Amendola took what looked like a knee to the head during a punt return and left in the 4th quarter with a head injury. The team has GOT to find a way to preserve Amendola. . . .Hightower is clearly being asked to play a new role on the Patriots’ relatively shaky front 7. The Pats need to proceed with caution – it seems unreasonable that they will be able to lean as heavily on the ILB turned DE’s hobbled shoulders this season."

- re: Rob Gronkowski "Gronk has had 3 major spine surgeries. He is patently slow to start every season. After a 3rd spine surgery I would not expect Gronk to be 100% from the start. He’s working with Alex Guerrero and reportedly looks a little slimmer to some – that’s a good thing. Gronk is huge enough. In fact, that’s part of his problem. Improvement in flexibility of his hip flexors, spine muscles (and scar tissue from the surgery) as well as hamstrings and other muscles can do nothing but help to take some stress off of what is likely an arthritic/chronically injured spine. . ."​

 

[Oswlek]

Why are people still talking about Mitchell as if he didn't suffer trauma in the preseason?

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

Left out Dr. Jessica Flynn's comments on Brady, "He's a fraking Cylon!"

 

[NG Pats Fan]

No more drafting injury prone WRs with past history of injuries in college..always bites us in the butt

 

[maineman209]

Why are people still talking about Mitchell as if he didn't suffer trauma in the preseason?

I thought O'Shaughnessy rolled up on Mitchell's other knee, if that's what you're referring to.

 

[PatriotReign]

I thought O'Shaughnessy rolled up on Mitchell's other knee, if that's what you're referring to.

That's exactly what that scrub did. Mitchell was fine up until that point.

 

[Oswlek]

I thought O'Shaughnessy rolled up on Mitchell's other knee, if that's what you're referring to.

He did, but are you using, "other" to mean you don't think that's the cause of his current absence? If so, that would clear up my confusion, but it would be the first time I've heard that.

 

[maineman209]

He did, but are you using, "other" to mean you don't think that's the cause of his current absence? If so, that would clear up my confusion, but it would be the first time I've heard that.

Okay, well ...

From what I remember of media reports at the time, the knee that O'Shaughnessy injured in the pre-season was not the knee that Dr Flynn is referring to. OTOH, these were initial reaction media reports, so they could very well have confused one knee with the other, too.

Bottom line is that I'm confused as to whether or not I'm confused.

Hope that clears things up.

 

[captain stone]

I really enjoyed this read. Please follow Dr. Jessica Flynn on twitter, if you haven't done so already (@jessdeede)

Patriots Injury Thoughts from Week 1

- re: Derek Rivers, Julian Edelman, and Cyrus Jones "I suspect the reason that ACL tears are so common in the NFL is that athletes are getting stronger and cutting harder and ACLs are staying the same size. Lots of stress on a little ligament means more non-contact ligament tears."

- re: Malcolm Mitchell " In college, Mitchell had an ACL tear in college and underwent ACL reconstruction. A year later he had a second arthroscopic procedure to “repair cartilage” in the same knee. Meniscus tears are common with ACL injuries so the cartilage repaired could have been the meniscus. The other possibility is that Mitchell has articular cartilage problems in that knee (focal arthritis)...I think that this is most likely an acute on chronic cartilage issue. It seems that conservative treatments have not allowed him to reliably be on the field so either a prolonged period of rest (with steroid inj, PRP, etc) or knee surgery are not out of the question."

- re: Danny Amendola and Dont’a Hightower "Amendola took what looked like a knee to the head during a punt return and left in the 4th quarter with a head injury. The team has GOT to find a way to preserve Amendola. . . .Hightower is clearly being asked to play a new role on the Patriots’ relatively shaky front 7. The Pats need to proceed with caution – it seems unreasonable that they will be able to lean as heavily on the ILB turned DE’s hobbled shoulders this season."

- re: Rob Gronkowski "Gronk has had 3 major spine surgeries. He is patently slow to start every season. After a 3rd spine surgery I would not expect Gronk to be 100% from the start. He’s working with Alex Guerrero and reportedly looks a little slimmer to some – that’s a good thing. Gronk is huge enough. In fact, that’s part of his problem. Improvement in flexibility of his hip flexors, spine muscles (and scar tissue from the surgery) as well as hamstrings and other muscles can do nothing but help to take some stress off of what is likely an arthritic/chronically injured spine. . ."​

Not one bit of good news among the lot. Feckin depressing as hell.

 

[Mike the Brit]

Yes. This is an excellent blog post.

The guess about the ACL epidemic makes sense, but I still have a nagging feeling. The Edelman injury didn't exactly happen on a savage cut. Nor the Dion Lewis. I'm wondering if there's some lag effect in there -- get hit one play and then a couple of plays later it's vulnerable. And I would love to know the grass-turf comparisons.

But, please, Dr Flynn. You think that Do Your Job 2 shows that the Patriots are at the cutting edge of training and health management? Sending the whole team to run up and down hills to boost conditioning? I don't think that that's the way they would do it at Bayern Munich or Real Madrid ...

 

[Mike the Brit]

Not one bit of good news among the lot. Feckin depressing as hell.

True.

"Where everything is bad it must be good to know the worst."

 

[maineman209]

Yes. This is an excellent blog post.

The guess about the ACL epidemic makes sense, but I still have a nagging feeling. The Edelman injury didn't exactly happen on a savage cut. Nor the Dion Lewis. I'm wondering if there's some lag effect in there -- get hit one play and then a couple of plays later it's vulnerable. And I would love to know the grass-turf comparisons.

But, please, Dr Flynn. You think that Do Your Job 2 shows that the Patriots are at the cutting edge of training and health management? Sending the whole team to run up and down hills to boost conditioning? I don't think that that's the way they would do it at Bayern Munich or Real Madrid ...

I could be mis-remembering (nacho coma), but I thought that the Field Turf at Gillette was replaced/upgraded this off-season.

 

[Mike the Brit]

I could be mis-remembering (nacho coma), but I thought that the Field Turf at Gillette was replaced/upgraded this off-season.

Interesting (and "nacho coma" -- ) Of course, Incredelman went down in Detroit. Where was Rivers injured?

I've seen tweets from Chatham blaming the turf and I remember McCourty saying something about how much less punishing it is to practise on grass.

 

[Bcc66duece]

Rivers was in WV when his injury occured

 

[SammyBlueCat]

So our players need to swim and do yoga during the off season.

 

[maineman209]

Incredelman went down in Detroit. Where was Rivers injured?

Rivers was in WV when his injury occured

I vaguely remember the note (tweet?) about the Gillette turf system indicating that this was an upgrade to the "new and improved!" version because it's ... something, something ... saves on gasoline ... gets your teeth 20% whiter ... IDK.

So, if a lot of NFL venues "upgraded" at the same time, I suppose a case might be made that the turf is a common denominator. But if Ford Field and the place in WV were not upgraded, maybe Doc Flynn is correct, and I kinda lean toward that hypothesis, anyway.

Back when I was still running marathons (25-30 years ago), I used to devour books on training methods (great source of carbs and fiber, btw). More than a couple of those books noted how easily and quickly one can build and strengthen major muscles in the thighs and calves while leaving knee ligaments and tendons relatively weak. They provided various exercise regimes for strengthening the latter that involved a number of awkward-looking twisty/bendy movements that sort of resembled break-dancing but without the , you know, panache.

So, I incorporated a number of those into my pre-workout warm-up/stretching routine. After awhile, I did actually notice a reduction in joint fatigue/soreness/stiffness after a long training run, so I kept going with them. Even so, a couple of years later, I still managed to give myself a partial meniscus tear and ligament sprain while doing speed work on a track.

Wait! What was my point?

Oh, right ... that I have some personal experience that kinda, sorta verifies what Doc Flynn suggests.

 

[DarrylS]

Always thought that there was some sort of correlation between advancing to the Superbowl and a rash of injuries in the subsequent season.. perhaps my view is anecdotal, but there seems to be some evidence of this happening.

It might be beneficial to do some sort of longitudinal study to ascertain whether this premise is true or just more failed thought processes, the NFLPA might be interested in this type of thing, particularly as the NFL is heading toward an 18 game season..

 

[RobertWeathers]

Always thought that there was some sort of correlation between advancing to the Superbowl and a rash of injuries in the subsequent season.. perhaps my view is anecdotal, but there seems to be some evidence of this happening.

It might be beneficial to do some sort of longitudinal study to ascertain whether this premise is true or just more failed thought processes, the NFLPA might be interested in this type of thing, particularly as the NFL is heading toward an 18 game season..

Interesting......

So your theory is the farther a team advances in the playoffs, the more injuries it experiences to those same players the following year.

That's worth digging into...

 

[DarrylS]

Interesting......

So your theory is the farther a team advances in the playoffs, the more injuries it experiences to those same players the following year.

That's worth digging into...

I have contended this for years, some subsequent seasons after going deep into the playoffs is more noticeable than others.. the NFLPA might have a vested interest in this type of thing..

And I could be completely wrong also..

 

[RobertWeathers]

I have contended this for years, some subsequent seasons after going deep into the playoffs is more noticeable than others.. the NFLPA might have a vested interest in this type of thing..

And I could be completely wrong also..

You could be wrong but it's plausible .

Not sure the NFL wants to know the answer.