Source: Gronkowski break not identical to first one

[RhodyPatriot]

Gronk is built like a bull. I highly doubt its a lack of strength or conditioning. You can't control how your bones react to contact.

Some people's bones are more likely to break compared to others. It doesn't make him weak, its genetics. He can't help it.

Not too little strength/conditioning. Too much. 24 yr. olds shouldn't be snapping forearms blocking at the line.

 

[Rob0729]

FWIW, a caller claiming to be an orthopedic surgeon called into Toucher and Rich and said the following:

• Gronk rebreaking was just a freak injury. The hardware in his arm had nothing to do with the break.
• Gronk will likely have a plate the whole length of the bone mean the chance of he rebreaking it is next to nil going forward.
• His rehab time will be slightly more than his last surgery, but not significantly. They have to let the wound heal a little longer.

 

[Rob0729]

Not too little strength/conditioning. Too much. 24 yr. olds shouldn't be snapping forearms blocking at the line.

How do you know that? Did you see how he injured his arm? I have yet to see a video that actually showed the injury.

I mean a 26 year old Rosevelt Colvin broke his hip bone reaching down to pick up a fumbled ball. What's to say that Sterling Moore just hit Gronk in the right way that his arm got torqued with enough force to snap his forearm.

 

[Mack Herron]

It is a mistake to conclude, as many people have, that because Gronk had a new fracture it was not related to the old one. To the contrary, there is experimental evidence that insertion of a metal plate increase the risk of fracture at the edge of the plate (stress riser). That is, the insertion of a plate increases the risk of certain fractures, and likely resulted in Gronk's second fracture. For this reason, it is debated in medicine whether players should return to contact sports before the plate is removed. (see: Evans NA & Evans RO (1997). Playing with metal: fracture implants and contact sport. British Journal of Sports Medicine; 31: 319-321.) Perhaps this situation will motivate further studies to address the question.

In Gronkowski’s situation it would seem reasonable that he likely re-fractured his arm at a site just adjacent to the plate where there is an obvious junction that changes the local properties of the bone. Not only is there a marked difference in the elastic property of the bone segment covered by a metal plate when compared to the segment just adjacent to the plate, but there is increased stress at the junction of the normal bone and plate because the plate acts as a “stress riser.”

This area of increased stress at the junction of the plate and the normal bone has been theorized to be a possible source of complications in a select population of contact sport players. Though some continue the debate regarding the removal of these plates in contact athletes prior to their return to sports, data suggests that an early return to sports in selected cases is certainly feasible.

Rob Gronkowski