QBs With Career-Ending Shoulder Injuries (1 Viewer)

[Bob Magaw]

this seems like an important issue and area of concern for the rams, seriously looking at taking bradford #1.

as to the thread question, not a lot come immediately to mind for me, but there are probably some.

It might be suggestive/instructive to see if it is a big list, and compare it to a list with QBs that shrugged off shoulder injuries (including separations), so to speak. brees would head that list.

maybe it is age-dependant variable (more likely to be career ender at 35 than early 20s)?

does the grade of bradford's separation make him a significantly increased risk, compared to a lower grade separation?

do shoulder separations increase the risk of future such injuries?

it would be nice to have a more quantitative, historically grounded, statistically underpinned sense of the risk in drafting players like bradford. some rams fans are OK with the risk if medical team greenlights, others like suh more. having a better picture of the real medical risk of bradford is seemingly necessary first, before weighing their relative value.

it could be important, not only to the franchise, but fantasy purposes.

history & stats aside, his physical is going to be big.

 

[LarryAllen'sJockstrap]

I remember reading an article on Drew Brees' shoulder injury from a few years ago. It was a dislocation that tore the labrum and required surgery. The doctor, might have been Andrews, was talking about how bad the damage was when he went in and opened him up and the extensive repair that was done.

 

[Bob Magaw]

a medical article on shoulder separation implications for sports...

last paragraph sounded promising, but didn't specify by grade... bradford's was a three on the scale of severity...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-rock-posi...h_b_341049.html

 

[Jene Bramel]

Bob asked me to address a few issues from a medical perspective. Keeping in mind that I'm not an orthopedist, rather just a pediatrician with an interest in sports medicine, here are my responses:

1 - does the grade (2 or 3?) make him a bigger risk

I think the injury may have originally been classified as either a II or III. The natural history of this injury -- a high profile athlete having surgery some weeks after conservative treatment failed -- strongly suggests a III degree strain. It's rare for a III degree strain to require surgery. My understanding is that surgery is only recommended in cases like Bradford's -- athletes or other young people who are need their shoulder to function highly long term for their chosen profession.

Surgery is generally considered to be successful for these injuries. Complications, including residual pain/arthritis, weakness, loss of range of motion and failure of repair are reported to be rare. Since we can likely assume that there was no associated injury to the shoulder joint -- rotator cuff or labral tear with or without associated dislocation -- I wouldn't consider Bradford a huge long-term risk if his testing shows a shoulder with good strength and range of motion. It may be a little early to make that determination clearly yet. Recovery from surgery generally takes 4-6 months. I think Bradford's surgery was in November, which puts him right on the most optimistic rehab time frame. That could explain recent observations that his shoulder may have tested okay, but his throwing workouts were somewhat disappointing.

In short, Bradford remains a risk today, but if determined to have a fully recovered shoulder may be just a marginally higher risk than a player who has never had a shoulder injury.

2 - does this grade make him bigger risk for recurrence?

Yes. I haven't seen a clear percentage of risk of recurrence after surgery. A III degree sprain involves multiple complete ligament tears. Repair has improved tremendously over the years, but the shoulder is a complicated joint and when you get a visual of what needs to be repaired (see the bottom of the linked page), you can see that it's not a simple stitch and close job.

3 - is risk age-related, & not as bad in early-20s than if he was ten years older?

I haven't yet been able to find percentages here either, but I think it's reasonable to assume that the cumulative number of passes and hits Bradford will make and take would put him at higher risk of arthritis and recurrence respectively. Bradford clearly has a young man's ability to recover and the best surgeons and trainers available, however, which should mitigate some of the risk he might ordinarily be expected to have.

Hope that was helpful. Happy to clarify or add more thoughts if interested. I'll edit here and add a note in the thread if I find some hard percentages for the post-surgical complications.

 

[Bob Magaw]

thanx, jene...

that was very helpful.

 

[finito]

Awesome post, Jene!

 

[JohnnyU]

Greg Cook