Packers RB Green ready to go
Written by: TOM SILVERSTEIN ¦ 8/27/2006
Source: www.jsonline.com
Green Bay - If there's one thing the Green Bay Packers don't need to hold their breath about with running back Ahman Green, it's that 10 months after undergoing surgery to repair a ruptured tendon in his leg he is not likely to suffer the same injury again.
They don't know whether he'll be the same back he was before last season or whether he'll suffer a physical breakdown somewhere else, but medically his right quadriceps should be sound for the rest of his career.
Tonight in Cincinnati, Green, 29, will start and take a handoff in a game for the first time since blowing out the tendon above his right knee on Oct. 23 on the turf inside the Metrodome. To almost a man, Packers coaches and front office officials say Green looks fit, powerful and explosive, just the way he was when he set the team's single-season rushing mark in 2003.
It's reasonable to think that such a severe injury - similar to a ruptured Achilles' tendon or a torn patellar tendon - would put Green at risk for a recurrence, especially given the amount of stress a running back puts on his knees and upper legs. But what the Packers have been told by their medical staff and what other orthopedic doctors say is that provided there isn't some underlying problem with the tendon, the repair will hold just fine.
"There's no reason to believe he's any more susceptible to this injury than someone who hasn't had it," general manager Ted Thompson said.
After the injury, Green put his trust in longtime team orthopedist Patrick McKenzie to repair the ruptured tendon. Two days after Green suffered the injury, McKenzie went in and reattached the torn tendon to Green's kneecap, the first step in the long recovery process for an injury both McKenzie and the Packers have become familiar with recently.
In just the last six years, McKenzie has performed the same operation five times, the last on offensive tackle Kevin Barry this spring. Before that, he had repaired the quadriceps tendon in defensive end Joe Johnson in 2003 and defensive tackles Santana Dotson and Steve Warren in 2000.
Part of the reason Green didn't seek out a high-profile specialist was that McKenzie was so experienced in the procedure.
"For this team it was the fourth injury of the kind and Dr. McKenzie had them all," Green said this week. "Practice makes perfect, so when you practice on this type of injury more than once you get better at it all the time."
The recurrence factor was important for the Packers because Green was a free agent after the season and they had to decide whether it was worth re-signing him for another year. Ultimately, they gave him a one-year, $2.01 million deal that included $650,000 in bonuses and allows him to earn another $2.75 million in incentives.
Though it wasn't the blockbuster long-term deal Green was seeking, it was a significant offering given the nature of the injury.
"He's a good player, No. 1," Thompson said. "But I also know a little bit about the man. I knew how hard he was working and how hard he's going to continue to work and those things bode well for people in rehab."
According to Carole Vetter, an assistant professor of orthopedics / sports medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin, the injury Green suffered doesn't have a high percentage of recurrence. She said techniques in repairing the injury had remained fairly standard over the years, but that each surgeon handles the repair in a slightly different manner based on experience.
The tendon crosses both the hip and knee joints, tying the quadriceps muscle down across the femur. When it ruptures above the knee joint, Vetter said, the surgeon has to reattach it to the kneecap.
"Every surgeon will have a little spin on the way they do it, but from a technical standpoint you just need to tie the tendon back to the bone," Vetter said. "It's usually some kind of suturing, usually through drill holes inthe kneecap. Where there's always evolving techniques is on the rehabilitation afterward."
Before the rupture occurred, Green had experienced pain off and on in the tendon and was bothered by it most of last season. It might have been one reason he struggled in the five games in which he played, averaging a career-low 3.3 yards per carry and running for a long gain of 13 yards.
"The area was inflamed and it would go back down and come back up," Green said. "It was aggravated. It feels great now."
Though an ineffective offensive line had something to do with his 2005 performance, Green, a five-time 1,000-yard rusher, had averaged no less than 4.3 yards per carry in each of his seven previous NFL seasons and didn't look like himself. As is the case with other tendon injuries, the pain he was experiencing represented weakening in the area, more than likely leading to the rupture.
"If there's any changes to the tendon, maybe a low grade tendinitis, or sometimes as we age the tendons become slightly more avascular - they don't have as good of blood supply as they used to - then the muscle forces can be stronger in certain situations, especially in quick agility situations, stronger than the tendon, and the tendon tears from the kneecap," Vetter said.
Though Green said he had not experienced discomfort in his thigh since joining practice on Aug. 7, most medical professionals agree he won't be as strong as he once was until at least a year after the surgery. For the first 12 weeks after the surgery, the training staff worked on range of motion with the kneecap, but little or no exertion could be placed on the quadriceps because of fear that it might pull out the sutures.
As a result, there is a tremendous amount of atrophy in the muscle and it takes a considerable amount of time to get the strength back.
Because of his devotion to rehabilitation and his rigorous workout regimen, Green's body is in peak condition and his thigh is more than strong enough to play football. The Packers have not deviated from a plan in which they have allowed Green plenty of time to rebuild the muscle while gradually easing him into football activities.
"We put a plan in place and we stuck to a plan and I think he's benefited from that plan," running backs coach Edgar Bennett said. "I think it all started with his off-season workout program. He did a phenomenal job in getting himself ready to play football. It's showing right now on the field. We're steadily bringing him along, keeping the big picture in mind. He's heading in the right direction."
What remains to be seen, however, is whether he can regain the same explosiveness and power he once had.
In practice, Green has looked good but there's a big difference in carrying the ball in non-tackling drills and taking a 20-carry pounding over the course of a game. A power runner who enjoys contact, Green relies heavily on the strength in his legs and there are no guarantees he will be the same player.
So far, Green hasn't favored the leg or shown any signs he's gun shy about getting hit, Bennett said, and he doesn't expect there to be a transition period once he hits the field.
"He's explosive, he's quick," Bennett said. "He's excited. You can definitely see the enthusiasm. He loves coming to work and that's a big part of it. He has a great attitude. He will be ready."
http://www.jsonline.com
Written by: TOM SILVERSTEIN ¦ 8/27/2006
Source: www.jsonline.com
Green Bay - If there's one thing the Green Bay Packers don't need to hold their breath about with running back Ahman Green, it's that 10 months after undergoing surgery to repair a ruptured tendon in his leg he is not likely to suffer the same injury again.
They don't know whether he'll be the same back he was before last season or whether he'll suffer a physical breakdown somewhere else, but medically his right quadriceps should be sound for the rest of his career.
Tonight in Cincinnati, Green, 29, will start and take a handoff in a game for the first time since blowing out the tendon above his right knee on Oct. 23 on the turf inside the Metrodome. To almost a man, Packers coaches and front office officials say Green looks fit, powerful and explosive, just the way he was when he set the team's single-season rushing mark in 2003.
It's reasonable to think that such a severe injury - similar to a ruptured Achilles' tendon or a torn patellar tendon - would put Green at risk for a recurrence, especially given the amount of stress a running back puts on his knees and upper legs. But what the Packers have been told by their medical staff and what other orthopedic doctors say is that provided there isn't some underlying problem with the tendon, the repair will hold just fine.
"There's no reason to believe he's any more susceptible to this injury than someone who hasn't had it," general manager Ted Thompson said.
After the injury, Green put his trust in longtime team orthopedist Patrick McKenzie to repair the ruptured tendon. Two days after Green suffered the injury, McKenzie went in and reattached the torn tendon to Green's kneecap, the first step in the long recovery process for an injury both McKenzie and the Packers have become familiar with recently.
In just the last six years, McKenzie has performed the same operation five times, the last on offensive tackle Kevin Barry this spring. Before that, he had repaired the quadriceps tendon in defensive end Joe Johnson in 2003 and defensive tackles Santana Dotson and Steve Warren in 2000.
Part of the reason Green didn't seek out a high-profile specialist was that McKenzie was so experienced in the procedure.
"For this team it was the fourth injury of the kind and Dr. McKenzie had them all," Green said this week. "Practice makes perfect, so when you practice on this type of injury more than once you get better at it all the time."
The recurrence factor was important for the Packers because Green was a free agent after the season and they had to decide whether it was worth re-signing him for another year. Ultimately, they gave him a one-year, $2.01 million deal that included $650,000 in bonuses and allows him to earn another $2.75 million in incentives.
Though it wasn't the blockbuster long-term deal Green was seeking, it was a significant offering given the nature of the injury.
"He's a good player, No. 1," Thompson said. "But I also know a little bit about the man. I knew how hard he was working and how hard he's going to continue to work and those things bode well for people in rehab."
According to Carole Vetter, an assistant professor of orthopedics / sports medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin, the injury Green suffered doesn't have a high percentage of recurrence. She said techniques in repairing the injury had remained fairly standard over the years, but that each surgeon handles the repair in a slightly different manner based on experience.
The tendon crosses both the hip and knee joints, tying the quadriceps muscle down across the femur. When it ruptures above the knee joint, Vetter said, the surgeon has to reattach it to the kneecap.
"Every surgeon will have a little spin on the way they do it, but from a technical standpoint you just need to tie the tendon back to the bone," Vetter said. "It's usually some kind of suturing, usually through drill holes inthe kneecap. Where there's always evolving techniques is on the rehabilitation afterward."
Before the rupture occurred, Green had experienced pain off and on in the tendon and was bothered by it most of last season. It might have been one reason he struggled in the five games in which he played, averaging a career-low 3.3 yards per carry and running for a long gain of 13 yards.
"The area was inflamed and it would go back down and come back up," Green said. "It was aggravated. It feels great now."
Though an ineffective offensive line had something to do with his 2005 performance, Green, a five-time 1,000-yard rusher, had averaged no less than 4.3 yards per carry in each of his seven previous NFL seasons and didn't look like himself. As is the case with other tendon injuries, the pain he was experiencing represented weakening in the area, more than likely leading to the rupture.
"If there's any changes to the tendon, maybe a low grade tendinitis, or sometimes as we age the tendons become slightly more avascular - they don't have as good of blood supply as they used to - then the muscle forces can be stronger in certain situations, especially in quick agility situations, stronger than the tendon, and the tendon tears from the kneecap," Vetter said.
Though Green said he had not experienced discomfort in his thigh since joining practice on Aug. 7, most medical professionals agree he won't be as strong as he once was until at least a year after the surgery. For the first 12 weeks after the surgery, the training staff worked on range of motion with the kneecap, but little or no exertion could be placed on the quadriceps because of fear that it might pull out the sutures.
As a result, there is a tremendous amount of atrophy in the muscle and it takes a considerable amount of time to get the strength back.
Because of his devotion to rehabilitation and his rigorous workout regimen, Green's body is in peak condition and his thigh is more than strong enough to play football. The Packers have not deviated from a plan in which they have allowed Green plenty of time to rebuild the muscle while gradually easing him into football activities.
"We put a plan in place and we stuck to a plan and I think he's benefited from that plan," running backs coach Edgar Bennett said. "I think it all started with his off-season workout program. He did a phenomenal job in getting himself ready to play football. It's showing right now on the field. We're steadily bringing him along, keeping the big picture in mind. He's heading in the right direction."
What remains to be seen, however, is whether he can regain the same explosiveness and power he once had.
In practice, Green has looked good but there's a big difference in carrying the ball in non-tackling drills and taking a 20-carry pounding over the course of a game. A power runner who enjoys contact, Green relies heavily on the strength in his legs and there are no guarantees he will be the same player.
So far, Green hasn't favored the leg or shown any signs he's gun shy about getting hit, Bennett said, and he doesn't expect there to be a transition period once he hits the field.
"He's explosive, he's quick," Bennett said. "He's excited. You can definitely see the enthusiasm. He loves coming to work and that's a big part of it. He has a great attitude. He will be ready."
http://www.jsonline.com
