Can someone please share this article With a cut and paste?
Thanks!
Don't want to quote the whole article-- you should subscribe to The Athletic-- but here's a short excerpt just about the surgery. There's much, much more about Cam and the rehab.
It's an exceptional piece of journalism by Jourdan Rodrigue. Imo Rodrique is the arguably the best sports reporter in the country:
In surgery, ElAttrache executed a technique called “internal bracing” after initially repairing Akers’ tendon tissue, which meant adding a sutured bridge brace over the top of the repair. The extra support — in theory and also in Akers’ case — helps protect and stabilize the repair site so the patient can begin physical activity much earlier in the rehab process while the underlying repair heals securely.
...
“Instead of having many strings trying to tie the ends of two mops together, you really stretch a suture across from the mop (handles) themselves which really keeps things in place, and you’re not relying fully on those frayed fibers of the tendon.”
That technique, and the doctors’ discovery that Akers’ tendon was extremely healthy on either side of the tear, allowed Scott, Cunningham and the Rams training staff to introduce certain rehab and physical therapy techniques into Akers’ routine much earlier than usual while simultaneously preventing the atrophy that occurs if the tendon and leg have to remain immobile.
....
Akers was out of his protective boot and into a walking shoe in about four weeks. The Rams’ team of physicians noted, eyebrows raised, that his gait looked normal as he walked and that Akers’ leg had not really atrophied; in fact, after a couple of weeks, it was difficult to tell which leg Akers had hurt because they looked so similar.
It was a "gut punch" losing Cam Akers in late July, but the Rams training staff (and Akers) were diligent and smart in getting him back.
theathletic.com
