Why is everyone assuming Deshaun Watson is gonna be back to 100% next season?

[ET80]

22 hours ago, VanS said:

And you're not speculating?  We are both speculating in this case since neither of us know the future.

I've been pretty up front on how my talk on his mental state is speculation. You, on the other hand? With statements like this:

22 hours ago, VanS said:

Confidence will be an issue

You're trying to pass your speculation as fact.

22 hours ago, VanS said:

Charles Barkley just a few weeks ago said on Inside The NBA that after he injured his leg, he was scared to run at full speed because of the fear of re-injury. 

How long ago was that? Late 80s, early 90s? Lower body injuries were a significant concern because the science behind recovery wasn't anywhere near where it is now. The joint simply didn't feel right, you could tell that something was different on every step. Nowadays, you have Zero gravity therapy, PRP injections, etc - they stress test and stress test the joint until the player is ready, not until some arbitrary time based on older methods. It's been 20 plus years, but with the advances in medical science, it might as well be 120 years - we've come THAT far.

And also - seriously, Charles Barkley? Not exactly the "my body is a temple" kinda guy, and he'll even tell you that. Recovery is very much a condition of how you eat and what type of things you do on a daily basis. Got your diet and rehab schedule down, you'll heal quickly and more thoroughly. Eat crap, smoke cigars, drink beer and play poker when you're supposed to be rehabbing (which is probably what Chuck did) and your body will respond accordingly - by not healing as quickly or thoroughly.

Once again, we're getting into speculation. The lack of confidence usually stems from something not feeling right. I can't tell you how Watson's knee felt pre injury or post injury - so I can't say, and neither can you.

22 hours ago, VanS said:

 

22 hours ago, VanS said:

Lets just hope its only for a short while.

Exactly, we can't quantify what this impact looks like. So none of us should be trying to say for certain how this looks. Did Adrian Peterson look any worse for wear confidence wise after his significant ACL/MCL/meniscus tear? Not really, guy ran for an absolutely confident 2,000 yards the following year. Wes Welker? Nope, caught a confident 122 passes for a career high 1,500 yards the following season.

Moral of the story is this - you're trying to present a story on abstract concepts (confidence) and you're presenting your argument as a tangible argument. We can speculate on abstract, we can prove out on tangible. You can't prove out on abstract, and trying to speculate on tangible is worthless - you can prove it out, so why speculate?

[Shady Slim]

as fans we want to be optimistic about it so natch we will, and coupled with the medical advances that we've seen it's better to be hopeful he'll come back 100% than **** all over him and write him off

[JAF-N72EX]

On 3/23/2018 at 5:23 AM, EliteTexan80 said:

Coming in as a biased observer, but an expert on knees (tore my ACL twice in my left knee, tore my patellar tendon in my right knee, had microfracture in my left knee). I've spent significant time with Orthopedic Surgeons and Physical Therapists rehabbing my own two knees - not to resume playing sports, but to ensure quality of life. I've become a bit of an expert on knees, simply because I've had to know about them for my personal use.

Comparing Watson to RG3 isn't a right comparison because of the nature of the injury. RG3 didn't just tear his ACL the 2nd time, he tore his LCL too, along with a complete tear of his meniscus. This was probably due to it being the 2nd tear in that same knee (which poses it's own challenges in terms of rehab, as you've got to break up existing scar tissue to re-establish range of motion to perform the modalities necessary to strengthen the muscles surrounding the ligaments. Additional scar tissue also leads to other quality of life issues - most notably pain management).

Watson's injury was to a knee he's never hurt - and in a really rare case of good fortune, there was no accompanying meniscus tear to account for; Given the position of the ACL, the required force to separate the tibial plateau from the femur to the point of tearing the ACL almost always leads to a meniscus tear, but not in Watson's case. It's also a fresh knee with no scar tissue, so range of motion and pain management should be manageable. He's been through this with his left knee before (on his "plant" leg for a right handed QB - which is a tougher recovery in terms of throwing mechanics. Think Carson Palmer/Kimo Von Olhoffen) so restoring his "drive" leg should be a matter of following many of the same protocols he followed the first time around and not having to rework his mechanics. 

All reports have been glowing given his rehab, and everyone says he's ahead of schedule - ACLs aren't the career altering injuries they once we're, and when you have a "basic" ACL tear with no other ligament or soft tissue damage to account for, it's easier to think of a return to form. It's not a given, he could regress - but given what we know medically, there shouldn't be a reason to regress unless there's a mental or confidence issue. The knee should be fine by late April/mid May.

 

On 3/23/2018 at 5:51 AM, EliteTexan80 said:

Another thing to consider is the methods used to repair ACLs today. Maybe back as early as 2005, you had two options in repairing your ACL - using the ACL from a cadaver (shorter recovery time but higher propensity to re-injure) or using tissue from your patellar tendon (longer recovery time because you have to rehab the tendon as well, but more thorough recovery that can withstand additional impact).

Nowadays? Doctors are almost exclusively using tissue from the hamstring - which provides the same longevity of the patellar tendon as well as the shorter recovery time of the cadaver. 

These are also teamed up with newer modalities in rehab - using sonar to provide deeper tissue stimulation/regeneration, techniques involving platelet rich plasma (PRP) injections to the injury, the famous "blood spinning" that Kobe Bryant and Tiger Woods used to fast-track their recovery. These were cutting edge procedures about five years ago, now it's old hat, especially if you have the resources of a professional athlete. 

Overseas, they even go as far as stem cell treatment, which has the potential to make recovery from injuries such as these a matter of weeks, not months. (Probably won't see FDA approval on stem cell treatment, but that doesn't stop multi-millionaire athletes from getting it done). There have been claims of surgeons in Germany who can repair and recover an ACL in a matter of six weeks with stem cell therapy, PRP injections and standard modalities. I believe six weeks is a stretch (and I'm certain there's some HGH involved to speed up the process) but it's facinating nonetheless.

TL;DR - Medical experts are getting more and more efficient at repairing these injuries, and it's becoming "paint by numbers" for athletes in terms of recovery. Following the rehab plan and not rushing any milestones ensures a return to form nowadays (just ask Adrian Peterson or Wes Welker).

Great posts ET. While I am still of the opinion that ACL's are damaging to a players career as a whole based on previous players, these two posts are pretty informative and something that I'll keep in mind. 

Usually I would probably not put as much weight into posts like these, but since you're obviously talking from first hand experience and actually going through it, vs myself who has been fortunate enough not too, it's definitely something worth considering. There was alot here that I admittedly had no idea about. Like most injuries, these are the type of things that only a person that has been through it or studied for can truly understand. The rest of us can only speculate with outside view.