Eli Manning is one of the most durable quarterbacks in the National Football League (NFL) having started an astonishing 151 consecutive NFL games.
Eli Manning’s “Sprain”
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But that ended in the fourth quarter of the final game of the 2013-2014 season—one of Manning worst years so far in the NFL, Manning, who’d guided his team to two Super Bowls, was facing a disappointing 7-9 finish when Washington’s 333lb nose tackle Christopher Isaiah Baker came barreling over Manning’s defender and appeared on the verge of smashing the frail quarterback into the ground.
Manning pivoted, twisted and jumped to avoid Baker but in the process suffered a season ending high ankle “sprain.”
Dr. Robert Anderson of OrthoCarolina treated Manning. According to news reports Dr. Anderson performed endoscopic surgery to remove calcium deposits, scar tissue and bone chips from the high ankle area.
This is a “sprain?”
Dr. Steven Weinfeld, an orthopedic surgeon and the chief of the foot and ankle service at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York told the New York Times writer Ken Belson that it would take months to determine whether the injury had completely healed. Furthermore, Manning will most likely wear a protective boot for weeks and only begin running after about six weeks. Several more weeks of activity will be needed to find out if Manning can move without pain.
Joe Alper, reporting for NBC Sports, quotes Manning as saying that he has a lot of work to do. “But I’m enjoying the competition of it all, the urgency we’re having right now.” Alper further reports that the Giants new offensive coordinator, Ben McAdoo, is designing a new offense which means that Manning will have a great deal of homework to do while he rehabilitates his ankle.
Manning is saying that his ankle is healing quickly and that it was a wise decision to have the surgery at the time that he did.
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This is a fascinating development. In my practice we've seen similar outcomes with the revised protocol. The key differentiator seems to be patient selection criteria. Has anyone else noticed the correlation with BMI thresholds?
Great point. I'd push back slightly on the conclusion, the sample size in the cited study is too small to draw population-level inferences. That said, the directional signal is compelling and worth a larger RCT.
We implemented a similar approach last year. Early results are promising but we're still gathering 12-month follow-up data. Happy to share our protocol if anyone is interested.
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