Fans of the Green Bay Packers football team, which includes most of the population of Wisconsin, were cheered to learn that Packers left tackle David Bakhtiari, who injured five ligaments in his ankle, is not anticipating surgery. According to sportswriter and Packer’s blogger, Tom Silverstein, Bakhtiari missed three games and was not 100% recovered when he played with the Packers against Arizona.
Packers Left Tackle Rejects Ankle Surgery
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Bakhtiari had sprained five ligaments and torn three of those in the early December game against Oakland. Silverstein reported that the Packers medical staff was not going to let Bakhtiari play until they determined that the normal things he needed to do to play left tackle would be of no more danger to him than if the ligaments were healthy.
Bakhtiari told Silverstein, “It really started responding and I was able to start using it. I felt more like myself. It just was to the point where we felt like it was going to stay with what we were going to do with it. It healed up enough to where it would be safe enough.”
He played well into the 26-20 overtime loss to Arizona. Bakhtiari expects the ankle to heal on its own, according to Silverstein. He plans to take a few weeks off and then begin his normal off-season routine.
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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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