Now that we know the nature of the injuries suffered by Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger in the Monday night win over the Kansas City Chiefs, some medical experts, you know, REAL doctors, are able to give their educated opinions on how long the quarterback might be sidelined.
Melanie Friedlander, a board-certified general surgeon, and a friend of mine on Twitter, has written an excellent piece on what exactly the injuries were to Roethlisberger and how they could indeed been life threatening. Friedlander explains why Roethlisberger was taken to the hospital and why his injury is different than the one suffered by St. Louis Rams wide receiver Danny Amendola a few weeks ago.
In addition, Friedlander has studied the case report of the 1998 rugby player that the Steelers quarterback referred to in his interview on Wednesday.
Friedlander goes on to say that if the only injury that Roethlisberger had suffered was the SC shoulder sprain, that he could likely return to action pretty quick. The rib dislocation, however, is the tougher injury of the two to put a timetable on.
Friedlander states that a conservative estimate would place Roethlisberger on the bench for 6 weeks, but being a Steelers fan, she knows all bets are off when it comes to him overcoming injuries. Based on her knowledge and conversations with her local sports medicine orthopedic surgery experts, she concludes that it’s way too soon to predict when Roethlisberger might be able to return to action.
It really is an easy to understand piece and I highly suggest you read it.
