Patriots QB Mac Jones could miss more than a month, according to sports medicine doctor
Patriots quarterback Mac Jones has been diagnosed with a “pretty severe” high ankle sprain, according to a recent NFL Network report.
According to Dr. Jess Flynn, a sports medicine physician at Lahey Hospital and Medical Center in Burlington, based on the information at hand, Jones could be out until late October or November.
“For a high ankle sprain that’s significant, this is generally more than a month of recovery,” Flynn said when reached Monday. “The most significant cases sometimes need surgery to fix it.”
Jones is reportedly getting a second opinion. The second-year quarterback couldn’t put any weight on his left leg after twisting the ankle during the Patriots’ final offensive play in Sunday’s loss to the Ravens. Jones hopped off the field and straight into the locker room with the help of team staffers.
“The video is all I have to go by. I’ve never examined him, but it was a pretty high energy injury,” said Flynn. “His foot was trapped, and then his leg was just slammed down on by a very large man, Calais Campbell. So the fact that it’s a severe high ankle injury isn’t a surprise. And with a severe injury, you really need to get that ligament to heel.”
Flynn noted there’s a new procedure known as “tightrope surgery,” which can shorten recovery time for a high ankle sprain. The tightrope offers an alternative to the traditional methods of treatment: rest and rehabilitation or the insertion of screws into the tibia and fibula. Several players of note — Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, when he was at Alabama, and Giants running back Saquon Barkley — have undergone the surgery.
“The high ankle ligaments are really important for stability of the joint. So either it’s a lot of time — it could be two months of healing — or then sometimes, patients are good candidates for the tightrope procedure, which basically supports where the high ankle ligaments are,” Flynn said. “It helps the ankle to heal more quickly.”
High ankle sprains are suffered when ligaments and tissue around the tibia and fibula, the lower leg bones, are stretched or torn and become unstable just above the ankle. Jones was a teammate of Tagovailoa’s when the latter underwent tightrope surgery in Dec. 2019. Tagovailoa needed just four weeks to recover from his high ankle sprain, though Jones’ timetable may differ.
“I do think it’s important to know where his frame of reference is,” Flynn said of Jones. “His experience with that procedure is that it got people back on his team, quickly.”
Flynn reiterated that all the information she has regarding Jones’ injury comes from video replay, and the latest reports about his status.
“All we’re talking about now is this report, and what the video looked like, too,” she said. “There could have been associated other injuries that equally could have needed surgery. So we can’t just assume it’s just the high ankle.”
from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/qQSy6B3
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