Posted by Lisa on March 19, 2008, 10:36 am, in reply to "Yeah, that was it........"
...but I'm not upset.
It's true that KJ may be able to heal uncommonly quickly, but even those who are optimistic about these things say that it takes a year to be back to "normal".
And in my upcoming article about the offense at Rebuilding the Lions (http://my-detroitlions.blogspot.com/), I was going to mention another article I had found that supported my belief that they need to draft a RB this year. Here is the excerpt from Medial News Today (http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/57859.php)
: Data were analyzed for 31 players with 33 ACL injuries. Of the injured players, 21 percent (7 of 33 ACL injuries) never returned to play in another regular season NFL game. Of the 79 percent that did return, most players returned to action 9 to 12 months after an ACL injury.
For those players who returned to NFL action following an ACL injury, performance fell by one-third, the researchers found. Power rating per game played decreased from 9.9 pre-injury to 6.5 post-injury. This decline in player production was statistically significant when compared to the 146 players in the control group.
Knee pain, stiffness, loss of strength, deconditioning and reduced proprioception (the sense of knowing where your leg is) may be factors explaining the loss of production in players after an ACL injury, the authors theorize. Further, ACL reconstruction does not perfectly recreate the complex anatomy and composition of a person's ACL before injury.
Interestingly, prior to their injury the ACL-injured players performed better than did controls. "High-performance RBs and WRs are more likely to be injured because they compete in more plays per game, carry the ball longer on each play, and attract more defensive attention," the authors say. "The same qualities of RBs and WRs that contribute to high performance -- instantaneous decelerations as well as explosive pivoting and cutting maneuvers -- may increase the risk for ACL injury."
The researchers cite a recent survey of all 31 NFL team physicians who were asked to quantify "what percentage of players return to play in the NFL after ACL reconstruction." Ninety percent of team physicians responded "90 to 100 percent" of players (assuming not borderline talent) return to the NFL. The current study found the number of players who return to play after an ACL injury was actually less, at 79 percent.
"Most studies report good to excellent results in the majority of ACL reconstructions regardless of technique or patient age, but the professional football player presents unique demands on the reconstructed knee," Carey concludes. "Our findings may be useful for athletes, coaches, and team owners in anticipating the future contributions of a player who has injured an ACL."
That along with the depth of this draft class led me to believe that KJ's time in Detroit were numbered. I just didn't think they had the balls to cut him now.
Despite that, I am really in KJ's corner and hope that he comes back and proves his doubters wrong. Because, when healthy, I would say he is in the top 5-10 of RBs in the NFL. I feel bad for him because he once again has to come back from a serious injury, even though his lizfranc injury wasn't even completely healed...so is really coming back from two career ending type injuries.
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