05-27-2016, 12:58 AM
(05-26-2016, 03:45 PM)OBX Bengal Wrote: Today, on Pro Football Talk, Mike Ryan, NBC Sports Medicine Analyst, talked about Tyler Eifert beginning at the 13:30 mark.
https://audioboom.com/boos/4618064-05-26-hour-two-peyton-manning-won-t-sue-al-jazeera?t=0
He says that Dr. Robert Anderson, an orthopedic foot and ankle specialist at OrthoCarolina in Charlotte, North Carolina, and the head of the National Football League’s Foot and Ankle Subcommittee, is doing the surgery and that he is the best ankle doctor in the country. He explains why surgery was delayed. He says Tyler will wear a boot until August and may miss a few games, but no one knows. It depends on how rehab goes.
Geoff Hobson says, “It’s believed that Anderson has consulted on the case from the get-go, starting when Eifert returned from Hawaii for a battery of tests.”
http://www.bengals.com/news/article-1/Plan-B/f2316950-2d1c-45c6-9cf7-06bb2543e5bd
So it sounds like blaming the Bengals' medical staff is unfair.
The key word in the radio interview is "instability." You don't get instability with a grade I or grade II ankle sprain which means his injury is a grade III ankle sprain. It's not a "loose" ligament, it is a torn ligament; most likely the anterior talofibular ligament. He isn't getting a clean out, he is getting a ligament repair.
http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1234170-overview
Quote:Distal talofibular ligament sprain with widened ankle mortise
It is generally accepted that for most patients, operative repair of third-degree anterior talofibular ligament (ATFL) tears and medial ankle ligament tears does not contribute to an improved outcome.[1]
One of the few absolute indications for surgery in patients with a sprained ankle is a distal talofibular ligament third-degree sprain that causes widening of the ankle mortise. To restore the ankle mortise, the distal tibiofibular articulation must be screwed together.
The usual postoperative course entails avoiding weight-bearing for 6 weeks, followed by removal of the screw and then continuing external immobilization while allowing weight-bearing for an additional 6 weeks. This program serves to avoid breakage of the syndesmotic screw and the associated difficulties that may present
The part I underlined explains why they didn't do surgery right away. The patients who don't get surgery heal just as quickly and just as well without surgery as the patients who get surgery. If surgery isn't a clearly better option than conservative treatment, they recommend conservative treatment and reserve surgery for treatment failures. That's where Eifert finds himself now, a surgical candidate because he failed conservative treatment.
