Chargers' Melvin Gordon reportedly had microfracture surgery on knee
Following a disappointing rookie season, Melvin Gordon had surgery in January, and said last week that his recovery is ahead of schedule.
By
Ryan Wilson
•
1 min read
Following a disappointing rookie season, Chargers running back Melvin Gordon had surgery in January, and said last week that his recovery is ahead of schedule. That's the good news. The bad news? According to the San Diego Union-Tribune's Michael Gehlken, Gordon didn't undergo your garden variety procedure, but instead had microfracture surgery.
It's the same procedure Jaguars rookie Myles Jack said he might need at some point in his career, an admission that saw Jack, considered one of the draft's best players, fall out of the first round altogether.
In case you're wondering, CBSSports.com's Jared Dubin wrote about the microfracture procedure in the days leading up to the draft: "It's a surgery technique where the doctor drills tiny holes in the underlying bone in order to repair cartilage. It's well-known for dramatically altering the careers of NBA stars such as Penny Hardaway, Chris Webber, Tracy McGrady, and Amar'e Stoudemire. There's a study that shows patients eventually recover to 75 to 80 percent of their original health and strength in the knee. That's not disastrous, but it's obviously not ideal, either."
But as Gehlken writes, not all microfractures are the same. Reggie Bush reportedly had microfracture following the 2008 season and followed that up with a career high 5.6 yards-per-carry average in 2009.
“Typically, I know especially in the NBA and the NFL, when people hear ‘microfracture surgery,’ they are going to think it could be a potentially career-ending injury,” Dr. Brian Schulz, an orthopedic surgeon at Kerlan-Jobe Orthopaedic Clinic in Los Angeles, told Gehlken. “Normally, it’s more directly related to the size of the defect, what’s going on in the rest of the knee. If it’s a relatively small lesion that’s localized to a specific point, the microfracture has worked pretty well, even in professional athletes. ... I don't think microfracture is quite the kiss of death that everyone makes it out to be."
If Gordon is healthy -- and his recovery is expected to take 4-6 months -- he gives Philip Rivers another young offensive threat to go along with rookie tight end Hunter Henry, the 35th pick in the 2016 NFL Draft.
