The Pat and Aaron Injury Report 10/20/22 with Dr. Kannen

Aaron: The injury report on the Pat and Aaron Show, presented by Florida Orthopaedic Institute in partnership with Tampa General Hospital. Joining us for the first time this season, we’ve spoke with him before and happy to have him on again. We welcome to the show, Dr. Jeff Kannen. Dr. Kannen, thanks for joining us today.

Dr. Jeffrey Kannen: Hey guys, thanks for having me today.

Aaron: Let’s get right into it, and let’s start with Marquise Brown. At first, it looked like he suffered a potentially seasoned-ending foot injury, but now we find out small non-surgical fracture. Should be back healthy in about six weeks or so, which is a big change. How did they determine that with obviously having at first some expectations that it was going to be worst-case scenario to changing it pretty quickly?

Dr. Kannen: It depends on where the fracture is. I’m not sure exactly where they found it but certain bones tend to not heal well. If there’s a breaking the bone in a certain area that might not have as good a blood supply, that might be a surgical indication. Another reason would be if the fractures move or shifted or out of place, that oftentimes has to be put back in place with surgery. That determines if they’re due surgery or not. He should be recovered after about six or eight weeks, that’s usually how long it takes a fracture to heal if you don’t treat it with surgery.

Aaron: Do you ever have a different diagnosis as far as what you should do for a patient based on who the patient is, whether it be that they’re an athlete and they’re trying to get back to play their sport, whether that be high school pro or any level, or whether they’re just somebody who’s not an athlete and they’re just trying to get back to normal life? Is it sometimes that you may or may not need surgery based on how you live your life and the patient that you are and the age that you are?

Dr. Kannen: Yes, that’s definitely true. Your physical demands, I would say, with certain sports, your demands are higher, and you need to have parts of your body that are functionally completely normal. If you have an injury and you’re an athlete or professional athlete, they tend to be a little bit more aggressive with those. If you’re someone who just likes to enjoy things and be active, those are still options available, but we tend to be a little bit more conservative.

Aaron: Let’s get into the Carson Wentz injury. He’s going to be out for about four to six weeks. He had a fractured ring finger, he got the surgery. For me, when I see these injuries like Dak Prescott in these finger injuries, Aaron Rodgers dealing with one of them right now. To me, for a quarterback, especially on the throwing hand, the pressure that you’re applying to the finger, four to six weeks, just to me, I don’t even understand how that’s possible. What do these finger injuries look like and how do they really recover so quickly when they have to really grip that football?

Dr. Kannen: Yes, it depends on where the injury is again. I don’t know exactly for his being a ring finger on his dominant hand that is important, especially in a quarterback. If it’s a non-displaced fracture where it’s in the middle of the bone or the shaft, it’s not near a joint, those tend the heal very quickly. You’re usually only in a splint for a couple of weeks and then you usually want to start moving the finger and getting your motion and your strength back while the bone continues to heal.

That’s why they give the recovery time about four to six weeks because usually by that time you have pretty much full function of the hand and you’re just continuing to work on strengthening.

Aaron: Doctor, do you consider the thumb a finger? [laughs]

Dr. Kannen: Yes, I would.

Aaron: What’s the big debate with that? Is there one? There is.

Dr. Kannen: I consider it a finger still. It is a little bit more mobile than the other fingers, but technically it’s still a finger.

Pat: Is this the case where it’s a debate for morons like Aaron and I, but within the medical field, you guys know?

Dr. Kannen: No, I don’t think there’s much debate about it in the medical field.

Aaron: It is just amongst us idiots. That’s what you’re saying. [laughs] You’re very nice, doctor. You’re very nice.

Pat: Hey, I actually want to ask you a little bit something about your history. I’m looking on the website here and of course you can see Dr. Kannen and a lot of the great doctors at Florida Orthopaedic Institute and of course in connection with Tampa General Hospital. I know you worked for a little while as a team physician in major league baseball, also in minor league baseball. How is it dealing with professional athletes in that setting where you’re a team physician versus patients that you see at Florida Orthopaedic Institute? Are those guys a pain in the butt?

Dr. Kannen: No. During my time with those teams, those players were great. My role was, this was also during some of my training and my role was to do a lot of their physicals and entry physicals. We evaluate to see if they are ready to play. Those guys are great. I liked being in that environment. They’re very motivated, so usually the athletes are very motivated to get better and to deal with any issues as quickly and efficiently as possible. That also helps to have that in an athlete or a patient.

Pat: Aftercare being so important, maybe I had it completely backwards because a lot of times normal patients or people that aren’t in professional sports or aren’t athletes, we’re not always as great as keeping up on the aftercare, are we?

Dr. Kannen: Yes. It’s also each person has their own goals and things that they want to do. If you are working as well or a family, you don’t have as much time to dedicate to doing things. But all that is very individualized, and we also look at all that whenever I’m treating a patient.

Aaron: Dr. Jeff Kannen joining us right now, it’s our injury report, Tampa General Hospital and partnership with Florida Orthopaedic Institute. I got one more for you. I want to get into the Buccaneers, Cam Britt. He is dealing with his neck injury really considering what we thought on game day when he was carted off is things look much better than we anticipated. With the neck injuries, obviously you have to be extremely careful with them, but when we’re talking about a sprained neck, a best-case scenario with that injury, how delicate do you have to be, and how much concern goes into an injury like this?

Dr. Kannen: Yes, I saw this injury when it happened, and I was concerned. He was on the ground. The medical staff immediately took care of him and evaluated him. Typically, in that situation, if they have any spine tenderness, they immediately start a protocol where they immobilize the neck, make sure that all are working, and then they put them on a board and take them off the field very carefully.

That’s standard protocol with a knee-neck injury. They’re immediately removed from care. They’re usually taken to be evaluated further. In his case, it looks like a cervical sprain. That’s where some of the ligaments in the neck can be either stretched or injured. And it can take anywhere from a couple days and very mild cases to a few weeks to fully recover. I understand the other concussion a few weeks ago too. Yes, so they’ll also evaluate him for that to see if he has any new concussion.

Aaron: Hopefully it continues to be the best-case scenario for what looked really initially very, very ugly. It’s been a rough month plus for cam braid. That’s the injury report here on the Pat And Aaron Show presented by Tampa General Hospital. In partnership with Florida Orthopaedic Institute, they provide you access to one of the top orthopedic programs in the nation. Schedule that appointment today, don’t wait any longer floridaortho.com. Thank you so much really appreciate you joining us today, Dr. Kannen.

Dr. Kannen: Absolutely.

Pat: Thanks doc.

Dr. Kannen: Thanks for having me.

Aaron: All right. When we, when we come back and every week we’ll have a doctor on from the Florida Orthopaedic Institute and Partnership at Tampa General Hospital.