The Pat and Aaron Injury Report 11/24/22 with Dr. Sellman

Aaron: Pat and Aaron Show, 95.3 WDAE and AM 620, tomorrow being Thanksgiving on always a Thursday. We typically have our good friends and doctors from the Florida Orthopaedic Institute in partnership with Tampa General Hospital, but since we’re off tomorrow, we decided to do it today because we love it so much and we know you guys are always paying attention and keying in to some of the big injuries heading into the weekend, getting your fantasy lineups in order, so let’s go to the friendly DAE hotline, where Dr. Jeff Sellman awaits. The Pat and Aaron Show injury report presented by Florida Orthopaedic Institute in partnership with Tampa General Hospital. Pat Donovan is on vacation today. Nick Wise, sitting in with me. Good morning, Dr. Sellman. Happy Thanksgiving.

Dr. Sellman: Happy Thanksgiving. I see what you guys did. They’re bringing in St. Nick to start off the holiday season.

Aaron: That’s right. Very nice. We brought in jolly St. Nick. We got a lot of questions here for you because we got some injuries we’re dealing with. I saw last week Justin Fields on the last drive for the Bears injured his left shoulder. It’s his non-throwing shoulder. What kind of an impact can a shoulder injury have even for a quarterback when it’s a non-throwing shoulder?

Dr. Sellman: It can actually impact him greatly in terms of his mobility and maybe just concentration on it, but we got to remember that it is his non-throwing arm, so that’s very lucky, and he’d be able to practice likely during the week, sling it, rehab it, limit the practice a little bit, and then game time decision.

Aaron: Doctor, I want to ask you about this because I found it interesting. It’s something we’ve been talking about for a while, grass versus turf. A lot of players, they don’t like the turf, they want the grass. Sometimes, the grass we saw in Munich a couple of weeks ago with the bucks, that field was awful and could have led to some big injuries. How does that have an impact, the grass versus turf conversation, for a lot of these guys?

Dr. Sellman: Oh, man. Turf can cause a lot more lower body injuries because of the way that the cleat will not slide, not move as opposed to grass, but like you said in Munich, those northern stadiums would just be torn up, and by the middle of the game, it can cause even more injury that are a little bit different than what the plant injuries are that are associated with turfs.

Aaron: Dr. Jeff Sellman joining us right now for our injury report, Florida Orthopaedic Institute in partnership with Tampa General Hospital. A tough news for the Giants and their rookie wide receiver Wan’Dale Robinson. He suffered a torn ACL against the Lions and that brutal loss, young guy obviously being a rookie. Does it matter your age, Dr. Sellman, when you have an injury like an ACL injury?

Dr. Sellman: Ironically, yes. Most people will think that younger athletes will have a better outcome, but what we’ve noticed that if you are in a younger, less than 20 population, they have a little poor outcome, maybe associated with the severity, the vigorousness of their activity and maybe not fully developed, and actually, a little older, which is where he is, leads to a little better outcome.

Aaron: We’ve seen and we’ve talked about this before, the ACL being a big issue in the league, especially recent years. Is this something that we’re seeing more of or just highlighted more, Dr. Sellman?

Dr. Sellman: I think a little bit of both, I think partly, what we focus on in the medical community, but up till about 2013 to ’20, it was about level with the number of ACL injuries, but starting with the pandemic when we didn’t have the season, there was a little bit of more distance training, maybe limited training altogether, putting a little more fatigue.

We saw more that year, and then since then, an increase because if you think about it, you have a six foot guy who is just a normal everyday Joe, has the same size ACL as these guys that are packing on so much more muscle with more power and more strength. That’s causing a lot more stress on the ATO, so yes, we have bigger players, same frame, more ACL injuries.

Aaron: I want to ask you about Chase Young of the Commanders because I find this very interesting. He’s been activated, he’s going to be back in action. People remember he tore his right ACL last year, but this was very interesting to me, Dr. Sellman. They used a graft from his left patellar tendon to repair the other right knee. How common is this, and why would they do this?

Dr. Sellman: It is becoming more common because the patellar tendon actually becomes a little stronger than the actual native ACL ligament or the one that you’re born with. There’s more and more studies needed, but they’re using the opposite legs so that they have fewer complications after, and in theory, there are fewer months to recover when you use the opposite patellar tendon, so something else certainly could have happened during the recovery process because of a elite athletes that they have to perform or maybe a little more damage that maybe backed him up a few months when they were in there during the surgery.

Aaron: Interesting. It’s actually supposed to shorten the recovery process, not lengthen it.

Dr. Sellman: It’s supposed to shorten it by two to three months according to the most recent study.

Aaron: Something clearly went wrong here with Chase Young, like you’re noting.

Dr. Sellman: Something happened. Monday morning quarterbacks, you don’t know if there could have been some significant bone bruising that requires about two months of more rehab, or they could have repaired and a meniscus while they were in there. That also can delay the rehab a little bit.

Aaron: Interesting because I just thought the grafting process was why it was lengthen. I didn’t realize– That’s why I love having you on, Dr. Dr. Sellman, to know that it actually should have shortened that process. Very interesting.

Kyle Pitts, he is on the IR, probably going to need surgery for that MCL injury. I want to ask you because we talked about the MCL and the ACL plenty on the show. With the MCL, typically for a non-athlete, where would you see that type of injury occur?

Dr. Sellman: Ironically, I see this a lot in my clinic with a dog running into people’s legs.

Aaron: Wow.

Dr. Sellman: Whenever there is something that runs into the outside leg, opening up that inner knee where that MCL lives and then pulling, stretching or tearing it, and then just typical everyday activity, stepping into a hole, twisting the knee. It’s that twisting and also force from the outside motion that causes that sprain or tear.

Aaron: Tomorrow, we’re all going to be in a lot of food, whether it be turkey, ham, whatever we do, and I think sometimes, we don’t know how to properly prepare for this, Dr. Sellman. Is there a stretching method that you would recommend? Is there something to get ready for our stomachs to eat as much food as we’re going to take on tomorrow?

Dr. Sellman: Yes. First of all, eat a lot tonight so that you stretch it all out. A lot of people think that they just need to starve themselves, but their stomach begins to shrink. You got to eat more tonight so you can prepare the stomach, and then of course, get those pants loose tomorrow and get that hand down while you’re watching the games.

Aaron: I knew you’d have the best advice, Dr. Sellman. You always do. The Pat and Aaron Show injury report, presented by Tampa General Hospital in partnership with Florida Orthopaedic Institute, providing you access to one of the top orthopedic programs in the nation. Schedule that appointment today. Don’t wait. floridaortho.com. Seriously, if you’re dealing with that nagging injury, now’s the time. Make that appointment. floridaortho.com. You know we love you, Dr. Sellman. Have a great Thanksgiving.

Dr. Sellman: Love you too. Happy Thanksgiving.

Aaron: He is the best. Dr. Sellman. The hand in the pants, man. I don’t care if you’re a man or a woman. It’s a position of comfort. For people, “It’s gross,” it’s not a sexual thing. Stop it. Just relax, people. It’s a comfort thing.