Saints running back Reggie Bush had Microfracture surgery back in December of 2008. New reports have surfaced as of late suggesting that Saints wide receiver Marques Colston also had Microfracture surgery back in January of this 2009. Before I talk about either player’s chances of being 100 percent by September, you might be asking: What exactly is Microfracture surgery?
In a nutshell, Microfracture surgery is a surgical technique for cartilage repair. The procedure works by creating tiny fractures in the underlying bone in the knee, which then causes new cartilage to develop. Basically, the surgeon creates tiny fractures in the bones (using an awl) and then bone marrow and blood, which contain stem cells, seep out of the tiny fractures — This creates a blood clot and the blood clot then releases cartilage-building cells. The human body treats the microfractures (created by the surgeon) as bodily injuries, which is why the knee grows new/replacement cartilage (Read more on Micrfracture surgery).
So how common is this procedure? Well, it’s becoming more common each and every year, but more so in the NBA vs. the NFL. In October of 2005, Phoenix Suns star Amare Stoudamire became one of the highest profile players in professional sports to have Microfracture surgery. Stoudamire returned to the court in March of 2006 (6 months later), but because of stiffness in both of his knees, Stoudamire and his doctors decided to delay Stoud’s return until the start of the 2006-2007 season (roughly 6-7 months after that). So after roughly a full calendar year, Stoudamire return to the game. Did he return to his old form? The answer is yes. During that 2006-2007 NBA season, Stoud was back to his elite ways.
So you’re probably asking yourself, what about football? Are there any professional football players that have bounced back after Microfracture surgery? Unfortunately for fantasy football owners, Microfracture surgery hasn’t yet taken the NFL by storm, at least in terms of high profile skill positions. Kellen Winslow is one success story thus far. The biggest names to date to have the procedure have had the surgery this off-season, or late last season, so the success stories are to be announced.
Saints running back Reggie Bush had Microfracture surgery back in December of 2008. While many predict that Bush will be full-go by August, each patient responds differently to the procedure and each player’s procedure can be more intense. Unfortunately, injury status reports by teams and players often aren’t detailed, as most players are overly optimistic about their recovery time frames — That’s the nature of this business. So, for fantasy owners, and for those of us in the fantasy information business, we’re forced to speculate. Assuming that Bush has had no setbacks, and assuming his procedure wasn’t tremendously more intensive than Amare Stoudamire’s, Bush has a shot at being ready to rumble come September. The problem is that Stoudamire wasn’t ready to return at six months, so is Bush’s seven-to-eight months enough, or will he need another 1-2 months more?
The same questions and reasoning can be applied to Saints receiver Marques Colston. His surgery was in January, so being fully recovered by September will depend on how intensive his procedure was, which again is information we do not have. The good news is that Colston is already running and on the practice field, but that’s far from being game-ready.
So what should fantasy owners expect heading into 2009? My guess is that both players, Bush and Colston, will push to be on the field for Week 1. Even though receivers do a lot of cutting, Colston probably has a better shot of being close to 100 percent. Bush counts on his ability to cut and stop on a dime, so I’m not so sure he will be 100 percent early on. Bush owners have to also fear that the runner doesn’t suffer a setback playing at less than 100 percent.
If you’re looking for concrete answers as to how good both Bush and Colston will be come September, we’d be lying if we said we had them. No one knows and each player is going to respond differently to such a procedure as Microfracture, especially across different sports. The good news is that the success rate of the surgery seems to be extremely high in young professional athletes (Stoudamire, Greg Oden, Jason Kidd, Zach Randolph and more) — And, even though Microfracture is not as common in the NFL as it is in the NBA, it can be argued that playing 82 games in the NBA can be comparable to playing 16 grueling NFL contests. The only thing we know for sure is that this procedure is to new to know anything for sure. The only thing we can say with extreme confidence is that this year’s examples, Bush and Colston, will help us predict the recovery of future Microfracture patients in future years.
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