How is RGIII?

[Lombardi's_kid_brother]

Last I heard, he is experiencing ennui.

[TheDane]

Figured I'd chime in on this... I had a labral tear in my left shoulder and had surgery last month. My orthopedic surgeon specializes in knee and shoulder repairs. Formerly, he was a doctor for several college and professional sports teams. I had an appointment with him this morning and asked for his perspective on RG3. He said he was surprised by Dr. Andrew's 6-8 month timeline. He said if it was a straight forward ACL repair, then that estimate would be about right. However, an LCL repair with a complete reconstruction of the ACL, he said he would have told him 9-12 months. He said Dr. Andrew's deserves all the credit in the world if he gets him back in 6-8 months, but would be surprised if that was the case. He also mentioned the problem now is that Adrian Peterson seems to be the new standard and you can't set your expectations based on an anomaly.

Your surgeon is correct.

However, there are factors at work here including the fact that we do not know the type or even the extent of the LCL repair. We also do not know for certain the extent of the ACL reconstruction -- i.e., were they able to use the old tunnels. Also, the math tends to be different for high caliber professional athletes as opposed to amateur athletes, as pros are generally able to re-strengthen their muscles at a faster rate (see Adrian Peterson). Most literature will say that a grafted ACL is at full strength after about 6 months; the question is the rest of the leg.

Potentially working against Robert would be the amount of scar tissue and other ancillary damage inside the knee, as a result of wear after the 2009 surgery. Again, not a single person on this message board knows the answer to that concern. It could be NO concern, it could be a large concern. Judging by Andrews' aggressive timetable, though, I would say it's a safe guess that Robert's knee was in otherwise "good shape."

-Doc

(signing Doc so you know it's not just TheDane responding)

[LEED3D]

Your surgeon is correct.

However, there are factors at work here including the fact that we do not know the type or even the extent of the LCL repair. We also do not know for certain the extent of the ACL reconstruction -- i.e., were they able to use the old tunnels and screws (I hope yes and, based on Andrews' suggested timeline, suspect yes). Also, the math tends to be different for high caliber professional athletes as opposed to amateur athletes, as pros are generally able to re-strengthen their muscles at a faster rate (see Adrian Peterson). Most literature will say that a grafted ACL is at full strength after about 6 months; the question is the rest of the leg.

Potentially working against Robert would be the amount of scar tissue and other ancillary damage inside the knee, as a result of wear after the 2009 surgery. Again, not a single person on this message board knows the answer to that concern. It could be NO concern, it could be a large concern. Judging by Andrews' aggressive timetable, though, I would say it's a safe guess that Robert's knee was in otherwise "good shape."

-Doc

(signing Doc so you know it's not just TheDane responding)

Good point. There are so many variables at play here that none of us will know just how quickly he'll be able to recover until he's much further in to his rehab. As much as I'd love to see the guy be our starting QB for Week 1, I just hope we don't take any chances and make sure he's 100%.

[Sekhmet187]

Figured I'd chime in on this... I had a labral tear in my left shoulder and had surgery last month. My orthopedic surgeon specializes in knee and shoulder repairs. Formerly, he was a doctor for several college and professional sports teams. I had an appointment with him this morning and asked for his perspective on RG3. He said he was surprised by Dr. Andrew's 6-8 month timeline. He said if it was a straight forward ACL repair, then that estimate would be about right. However, an LCL repair with a complete reconstruction of the ACL, he said he would have told him 9-12 months. He said Dr. Andrew's deserves all the credit in the world if he gets him back in 6-8 months, but would be surprised if that was the case. He also mentioned the problem now is that Adrian Peterson seems to be the new standard and you can't set your expectations based on an anomaly.

Couple of things.

Yeah I think its unrealistic for everyone to expect people to come back as fast as Wes Welker or Adrian Peterson have from their injuries in the past (People forget how quickly Welker came back from his injury as well and hes looked just as quick as he ever was). However, I don't really think fans are "expecting" it, as much as they're just hoping for it.

Finally, and I say this with respect to people in a profession I can't begin to get into, while I'm sure there are a lot of well trained medical professionals in this country, it baffles me how quickly people who are working at regular, average clinics and hospitals and question the judgement of guys who are widely regarded throughout the country as one of the best in the field. Its akin to Trent Dilfer or Rex Grossman critiquing Peyton Manning. Doesn't mean they can't, but it rubs me the wrong way when they come off like they're a little more right than the guy.

I say this because theres been waves and waves of people chiming in, and so many comments come off as if this Dr. Andrews guy is new to the profession or something.

[mikered30]

Can RG3 borrow Santana's hyperbaric chamber to heal faster?

[Sekhmet187]

Can RG3 borrow Santana's hyperbaric chamber to heal faster?

Just sign TO and borrow his til RGIII is good to go.

[doghouse4x4]

Last I heard, he is experiencing ennui.

No way, existential crisis' have him.

[skinsfansince1988]

I think the fact is, we won't know anything until training camp until July and even then we won't really know, I doubt he takes one snap in preseason, if by miracle, he is 100%, so we will not know really anything 100% until the week before the Season Opener in September

[Momma There Goes That Man]

Yea if he starts doing that he might never be the same. I'd say keep all mediocrity away from him before he gets infected with it.

Another plea to cut Banks I see...

[cphil006]

Your surgeon is correct.

However, there are factors at work here including the fact that we do not know the type or even the extent of the LCL repair. We also do not know for certain the extent of the ACL reconstruction -- i.e., were they able to use the old tunnels and screws (I hope yes and, based on Andrews' suggested timeline, suspect yes). Also, the math tends to be different for high caliber professional athletes as opposed to amateur athletes, as pros are generally able to re-strengthen their muscles at a faster rate (see Adrian Peterson). Most literature will say that a grafted ACL is at full strength after about 6 months; the question is the rest of the leg.

Potentially working against Robert would be the amount of scar tissue and other ancillary damage inside the knee, as a result of wear after the 2009 surgery. Again, not a single person on this message board knows the answer to that concern. It could be NO concern, it could be a large concern. Judging by Andrews' aggressive timetable, though, I would say it's a safe guess that Robert's knee was in otherwise "good shape."

-Doc

(signing Doc so you know it's not just TheDane responding)

It seems like the procedure involves taking a part of bone along with the graft of tendon from the other knee (which the tendon grows back, not sure about the bone) and placing that in the hole and they bones heal together as a break would. Any scar tissue from the 2009 surgery would have been removed during the most recent I assume?

[doghouse4x4]

Another plea to cut Banks I see...

[jivelikenice]

Timing for his return aside, here's the part of the debate I don't get. Robert hasn't look good in any game since he came back. He ran the offense as well as he could and made some plays, but he looked extremely limited v. Philly, Dallas, and the Seahawks. Now everyone is saying he should have been benched at the half. He never should have been playing in the first place! Not because I'm a Dr and knew the re0injury risk, but I thought he was having trouble leading a consistent offensive attack. This is not an attack on Shanahan, its an attack on the fans & media who are now screaming he should have been out at halftime of the Seahawks game. Where were you the previous 2 weeks?

Secondly, the discussion is now what will Robert look like when he comes back. Have you not watched the last 3 weeks? He looked like 60% of his normal self....There's no way he could look any worse post surgery because he had an obvious limp and couldn't push off, yet the majority didn't have an issue then. This whole thing is ridiculous on many levels. Injuries happen....With this injury in particular, there were so many variables in play (was it the brace or the injury? how bad was the aggravation?, etc...) that to think that he would have been ok to go for next season had they taken him out at the half is a carless assumption. It was the 4 week point in a 2-4 week injury, yet he still was hobbling and couldn't plant well before the injury. That's the reality. Everyone (coaches, fans, media, players) got into the hype around the division hunt.

[RiverboatGambler]

Timing for his return aside, here's the part of the debate I don't get. Robert hasn't look good in any game since he came back. He ran the offense as well as he could and made some plays, but he looked extremely limited v. Philly, Dallas, and the Seahawks. Now everyone is saying he should have been benched at the half. He never should have been playing in the first place! Not because I'm a Dr and knew the re0injury risk, but I thought he was having trouble leading a consistent offensive attack. This is not an attack on Shanahan, its an attack on the fans & media who are now screaming he should have been out at halftime of the Seahawks game. Where were you the previous 2 weeks?

Secondly, the discussion is now what will Robert look like when he comes back. Have you not watched the last 3 weeks? He looked like 60% of his normal self....There's no way he could look any worse post surgery because he had an obvious limp and couldn't push off, yet the majority didn't have an issue then. This whole thing is ridiculous on many levels. Injuries happen....With this injury in particular, there were so many variables in play (was it the brace or the injury? how bad was the aggravation?, etc...) that to think that he would have been ok to go for next season had they taken him out at the half is a carless assumption. It was the 4 week point in a 2-4 week injury, yet he still was hobbling and couldn't plant well before the injury. That's the reality. Everyone (coaches, fans, media, players) got into the hype around the division hunt.

I think he did what he was asked to do in the eagles/cowboys games. HE was doing well in the seahawks game until right before that second TD pass and he clearly re-injured his knee around that point. It's not like he was costing us games prior to that re-injury. No one knows how he will be when he gets back but I assume the healing process and rehab will go as planned and he will be around the strength he was when we drafted him. I refuse to entertain worst case scenario type thinking because it isn't fun nor is it productive.

[jivelikenice]

I think he did what he was asked to do in the eagles/cowboys games. HE was doing well in the seahawks game until right before that second TD pass and he clearly re-injured his knee around that point. It's not like he was costing us games prior to that re-injury. No one knows how he will be when he gets back but I assume the healing process and rehab will go as planned and he will be around the strength he was when we drafted him. I refuse to entertain worst case scenario type thinking because it isn't fun nor is it productive.

I'm not painting a worst case scenario picture at all. My point was what we saw the last 3 weeks was below the worst case scenario in my opinion and he played 'ok' and we went 2-0 and had a 14-0 lead on Seattle. So to the pessimists who are fretting about him being a shell of himself, did they feel the same way about him after Philly & Dallas and going into the Seattle game? And where were the MMQBs when it was obvious he wasn't healthy the last few weeks? You're right though, he was effective early v Seattle, and that's a testiment to him as a competitor considering where he was health-wise.

[pjfootballer]

How you doing?