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Dr. Liao's Week 7 Injury report | Detroit Lions Podcast

Dr. Liao's Week 7 Injury Report Dr. Liao goes through the Detroit Lions' injury report and takes a look at their upcoming opponent, the Minnesota Vikings. How long will Aiden Hutchenson be out? Is there a chance he might make it back for the playoffs? Is it the same leg he injured at Michigan, or the same kind of injury? In other injury news and notes for the Detroit Lions, when are we finally going to see Ifiatu Melifonwu? Will Brian Branch be good to go Sunday? Is Carlton Danis' injury a long term problem or are the Detroit Lions being cautious? Detroit Lions Podcast Brings You Key Detroit Lions Coverage The Detroit Lions Podcast will continue to bring you the latest info on the Lions as the team marches through opponents in the 2023 NFL season. Stay tuned as we continue to bring you more great Detroit Lions content every day. https://youtu.be/sDs46tdJTvk Let us know what you think about the show by commenting in the podcast thread in the subreddit, or by leaving us a voice mail message via Skype at: Detroit Lions Podcast Your input will help make the show better, and if you leave us a message on Skype, you just might be featured in an upcoming podcast! You can also give us a call at (929) 33-Lions. Get yourself a Classic Detroit t-shirt here! http://shirt.detroitlionspodcast.com Don't miss our great merch selection in the Detroit Lions Podcast store. Looking for the relief that CBD products can bring? Click here: https://bit.ly/2XzawlG Get your Lions Gear at: https://bit.ly/2Ooo5Px As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases made here: https://amzn.to/36e2ZfD Donate Direct at: https://bit.ly/2qnEtFj Join the Patreon Crew at: https://bit.ly/2bgQgyj #lions #detroitlions #detroitlionspodcast #onepride #allgrit #sanfrancisco #49ers #purdy #mccaffery #goff Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Broadcast on:: 17 Oct 2024
Audio Format:: other

Dr. Liao's Week 7 Injury Report

Dr. Liao goes through the Detroit Lions' injury report and takes a look at their upcoming opponent, the Minnesota Vikings. How long will Aiden Hutchenson be out? Is there a chance he might make it back for the playoffs? Is it the same leg he injured at Michigan, or the same kind of injury?

In other injury news and notes for the Detroit Lions, when are we finally going to see Ifiatu Melifonwu? Will Brian Branch be good to go Sunday? Is Carlton Danis' injury a long term problem or are the Detroit Lions being cautious?

Detroit Lions Podcast Brings You Key Detroit Lions Coverage

The Detroit Lions Podcast will continue to bring you the latest info on the Lions as the team marches through opponents in the 2023 NFL season. Stay tuned as we continue to bring you more great Detroit Lions content every day.

https://youtu.be/sDs46tdJTvk

Let us know what you think about the show by commenting in the podcast thread in the subreddit, or by leaving us a voice mail message via Skype at: Detroit Lions Podcast Your input will help make the show better, and if you leave us a message on Skype, you just might be featured in an upcoming podcast! You can also give us a call at (929) 33-Lions.

Get yourself a Classic Detroit t-shirt here! http://shirt.detroitlionspodcast.com

Don't miss our great merch selection in the Detroit Lions Podcast store.

Looking for the relief that CBD products can bring? Click here: https://bit.ly/2XzawlG

Get your Lions Gear at: https://bit.ly/2Ooo5Px

As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases made here: https://amzn.to/36e2ZfD

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#lions #detroitlions #detroitlionspodcast #onepride #allgrit #sanfrancisco #49ers #purdy #mccaffery #goff

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When you need meal time inspiration, it's worth shopping King Supers for thousands of appetizing ingredients that inspire countless mouth-watering meals. And no matter what tasty choice you make, you'll enjoy our everyday low prices, plus extra ways to save, like digital coupons worth over $600 each week and up to $1 off per gallon at the pump with points. So you can get big flavors and big savings, King Supers, fresh for everyone, fuel restrictions apply. (upbeat music) Lions fans, it's time for the podcast you've been waiting for, the show where Kool-Aid runs blue. Faces turn red. And rose-colored glasses never go out of style. This is... The Detroit Lions podcast. - Welcome, fellow Lions fans. Brutal weekend we just had. It was brutal for the cowboys 'cause we torched them. It's brutal for us because we lost our most important defensive player. It's like that meme, calling ambulance, but not for me. Except in this case, also calling for us because we needed one to send aid and hunching some directly to the hospital. Kudos to the NFL for putting Brad Allen as physically far away from the Lions game as possible. So he was sent to London for the Bears Jaguars game on Sunday. Since he was on another continent, I guess I can't blame him for Aidan Hutchinson's injury no matter how much I want to. I guess I'll leave him alone. He and his optometrists have suffered enough. I'm Jimmy Lee-Out, University of Michigan Medical School grad, board certified in family medicine, lifelong Lions fan. This is the medical edition of the Detroit Lions podcast. Today, I'm gonna go deep into Hutch's injury and go over all the questions and issues surrounding it, including if he could return for the Super Bowl and if he should adjust his technique to prevent anything like this from happening again. I'm also gonna review other injuries coming out of the Cowboys game. There was another season under that happen. I'm recording this on Wednesday, October the 16th. So let's start with the injury. Left Tibia fibula fracture, a Tib fib. This was pretty obvious for anybody who saw this on video. There were initial reports that only mentioned a Tibia fracture, but unless Hutch's fibula was made of rubber, he had to have broken that also. So it ended up truly being a Tib fib fracture. Adding that fibula fracture component doesn't affect the timeline though, as that's a less important bone that will heal concurrently with the Tibia. It's the Tibia that's the major weight bearing bone of that lower leg. It bears about 80 to 90% of the weight. So let's talk about the mechanism of the injury. The video showed a leg whiplash mechanism. The left leg of Aiden Hutchison quipped around as he was grabbing Dak Prescott. Now this is interesting because we saw this exact same mechanism last year in week 13 versus the Saints. Watch the videos on my X timeline or highlights tab or go to my lines or our article. If you watch those videos, they look almost identical. The only way you can tell them apart is really the opponent jerseys. That leg whip that occurred both times, it's like a kicking or a tripping mechanism. It can definitely break the bones. We've seen this multiple times in the MMA with kickers who kicked that occurred with Anderson Silva, Conor McGregor and Chris Weibman. Now last year with that leg, Weib Aiden Hutchison easily could have heard himself, but did not, but that leg whip did cause an MCL spring to a Lee McNeil. Whiplash is dangerous. I talked about this earlier in the year with Antoine Green's concussion where his neck and head whiplash towards the ground. Last year Khalil Dorsey attempted to kick somebody or trip him on a kickoff coverage. He was down for a little bit. He could have had a serious injury there. There's a reason why tripping is illegal in the NFL. The person who's doing their tripping is really putting their lower leg at risk. So don't do it. Now, going forward, the lines need to do a full film review with Aiden Hutchison to see it all often. This kind of thing is happening and how it compares to other edge rushers. This is at least the second time it's happened. I'm suspecting it's happened more to Hutchison with his technique. If this is just a flooky thing and it's only happened a couple of times and it doesn't happen otherwise or to other edge rushers, maybe Hutchison doesn't need to change his technique at all. Maybe just call it a fluke. But if Hutch is doing this kind of thing regularly and other elite edge rushers aren't, then Hutch really needs to change his technique at the point of contact with the quarterback. He needs to figure something out. Maybe kick that knee up when he's... At the quarterback, like this kind of a maneuver, hip flex, kick that knee up, tighten that leg up right against the body, do something so that lower leg isn't whipping around. He needs to work on that before he returns to play because there's going to be a confidence issue for Hutch. When he comes back, he's going to be a little bit worried if this kind of thing is going to happen again. So working on this technique before he comes back is going to be important. So let's talk about the early signs for Hutchison, the early reports we got. The key one is that this was not a compound or an open fracture. That's where the bone lacerates the skin. That creates a dirty wound which dramatically increases the risk of infection. Now, yes, you need to open up the leg for surgery, but that's a sterile environment, sort of a different situation. An open wound on the field is dirty. Now you have to do IV antibiotics. Now you have to worry about infection risk. We saw this with Alex Smith, who had an infected TIB fib caused a significantly more prolonged and difficult recovery. He didn't return for over two years and really wasn't quite the same guy when he came back. So really good obstacle that overcame this time with Hutchison not having open fracture. Also, the early reports were optimistic, which suggested there was no nerve damage, also no vascular damage, which is blood vessel damage. Those things can occur when that bone breaks. They're unlikely, but still good to clear those obstacles. Also in the first couple of days, there is a risk of compartment syndrome. That's where severe swelling of the calf area actually cuts off blood supply and does significant damage to the leg. Do not search for compartment syndrome treatment on the internet. Please don't do that. Goddamn it, you're probably doing that right now, aren't you? I warned you, it's not pretty. All right, I'm gonna give you a few seconds to stop vomiting. All right, now let's get to the surgery that Aidan Hutchison had. He had likely an intramedullary nail placed in that TIBIA. That's where you stick a long rod, a long metal rod or a nail, directly through the center of the bone, which stabilizes the bone and puts it in the right position to heal. It's sorta like rebar you might put in concrete. So what's the timeline here going forward? Typically in the past six to nine months, but timelines haven't shrinking over the years, and the early indications suggest that this was a straightforward simple fracture. Campbell put out a four to six month timeline as press conference on Monday. Now, after about four to six months, timelines get stretched because the season is over, so no reason to rush it back. But with the Super Bowl being just less than four months away, apparently that's not rolled out yet. There are family members who are suggesting Aidan Hutchison could be back for the Super Bowl. There are complications that can develop that can stretch out this timeline. There can be residual knee pain from the nail, and that bone has to be set just right without any kind of rotation, which can affect the physiological movement of that lower leg. There's also a small risk of malunion, which some studies shows around two to 10%, but realize that a lot of these people who are having tip-fib fractures are older, geriatric people who don't heal as well as Aidan Hutchison, who's a young, healthy guy. Let me talk about the same season target now. It's great to have a same season target for mental health reasons. We saw this last year with CJ, GJ, who had his pec rupture in week two, but returning week 18 right before the end of the regular season. We also saw this with James Houston, who also hurt himself in week two. He was back just in time for the NFC Championship game. Going way back, Lions fans might remember Charles Rogers. He broke his collarbone twice early in each year. The first year it was in game five. The second year it was in game one. Charles Rogers was like our Jamison Williams back then. Super lean, taller than you think, and eye watering speed. This guy, along with Jamo, made other NFL players look slow. They were just different kind of players. So in that rookie year, Charles Rogers hurt himself in week five. Lions put him on IR, which is understandable. Collar bones, which he hurt both times, healing about eight weeks. He got a little bit of a recovery period. So maybe he's back in 10 weeks by that time. There's maybe only one game left in the season. So it was understandable to put him on IR that first year. However, the second year, he hurt himself in week one on his very first target. The Lions also put him on IR right away, which I think was a major, major mistake. Remember back then, IR rules were different. You couldn't bring any guys back from IR, no exceptions. Nowadays, we can bring up to eight guys back from IR. This guy was drafted second overall, just like Aidan Hutchinson. This is a guy that's important to the future of your franchise. It's important that you keep him involved, keep him mentally healthy and happy. You carry Charles Rogers on the roster, even if that means he only comes back for maybe three to four games at the end of the season. We don't need that Scrub Special Teamer. We don't need that sixth linebacker. Carry your number two overall pick, but instead they didn't and unfortunately ended up with sort of disastrous consequences. He was never quite the same player. Mental health is absolutely critical. The Lions and the family and Aidan Hutchinson having the same season target of the Super Bowl just out there, optimistically is really important. It keeps him involved. Now the question is, is he gonna actually play in the Super Bowl? Yes, I think he'll play. Now that doesn't mean he's the same dude as we saw before the injury right away. That doesn't mean he's gonna be effective at all. Those are two different questions versus if he's gonna play or not. Here are the reasons he's gonna play. Number one, players are absolutely gonna return way earlier than they're ready for the Super Bowl. We've seen this in the past with Terrell Owens who had a very serious ankle fracture, sort of a James Houston level ankle fracture. He was back for the Super Bowl. We saw this with Jalen Waddle in college with the championship game where he was hobbling around, but he wanted to be in there for that last game of the season. Another reason, this is a once in a lifetime thing to have a chance to play in the Super Bowl for most players, it's a never in a lifetime thing. They don't even get a chance. Lions fans know this better than anybody. We've never even seen the Super Bowl. Last year was the closest we've ever gotten. We've had guys like Barry Sanders and Calvin Johnson never even sniff a Super Bowl. If a player has a chance to play, they're gonna wanna play. If the Lions gave me a chance to play, I'd be out there playing. I could get in there for one or two snaps. I'll start training right now. I know I can run the Dan Skipper route tree. I'd be out there. Another reason he's gonna play is he'll have five months to recover after that single game. So it's not like he has to be ready for multiple games. He just needs to suck it up for one game and then he'll be able to rest for multiple monks. And maybe the most important reason he's gonna play is the injury risk for that leg is minimal over baseline. That bone's gonna be totally healed. Bones generally heal very reliably in about eight weeks. Super Bowl's gonna be about 14, 15 weeks or so. That bone healing is not an issue. It's really just a matter of rehabbing the leg and the strength and all that. So from Hutch's standpoint, absolutely he's gonna play. Now from the Lions standpoint, that's another question. It really depends on how effective they think he's gonna be and how valuable that single roster spot is. Now with Hutch, who's such a key member of the team, now and going forward, this guy's gonna get probably the biggest contract for any non-corderback in the next year or two. The Lions are gonna let him play even if they don't think he's gonna be that effective. Even if physically he can't do anything out there, it's still possible he could be effective as a decoy or a distraction. Imagine this guy coming in for a third down. Now the other team's wondering, do we need to double this guy? Do we need to chip him? What is going on here? So even if he's not effective and not able to do anything out there, he could still be a distraction. I can imagine that the Lions though get him in there for 10 snaps, see how it goes. Maybe even 20 or 30 if things are going well. He's probably not gonna have the strength, the speed, the quickness, the burst, and definitely not the stamina early on, but I can see them throwing in a couple stunts. Maybe he picks up a pressure or two, maybe even gets a sack with a stunt where he gets a clear rush onto the quarterback. That would be a great story. So from a fan standpoint, if he does return for the Super Bowl, keep the expectations low though. We're not getting the same guy. He's coming in extra early from a significant injury and he's just not gonna have that same physical ability, that first game back. All right, let's get to long-term prognosis for Hutch. Is this something we need to worry about for his career or for the future? Well, after he wins the Super Bowl, what is he gonna have to deal with? In this case, the injury is preferable in many ways to other injuries that might seem more minor, like say a meniscus tear. Many parts of the body heal extremely well. Bones generally heal very well. There are a couple exceptions like the Jones fracture, which doesn't get good blood flow. And Taylor Deckard's tiny sesomoid bone in this toe, which he had to have removed. Skin also heals very well in the body. Vagina's heal extremely well. I've been involved in over 100 deliveries. Almost every time the vagina tears a little bit. Sometimes it tears quite a bit. We have a saying, if you put two pieces of vagina on opposite ends of the room, they'll find a way to come together and heal. So you gotta love vaginas. One thing that doesn't heal well in the body and is a major design flaw is cartilage. That's why we are all gonna have arthritic pain someday. That's why athletic careers are limited and there's a decline for everybody around the age of 30. It's not that the muscles are weak. The muscles are as strong as ever. It's that cartilage that builds up damage over time. You get little tears and rips the meniscus. You also get wear and tear and wearing out of the articular cartilage. That's the cartilage that is covering the bones. That cartilage starts wearing out and those joints don't function as well as they used to. How does this relate to Hutchinson? Well, with him, with this Tib-Fib fracture, it doesn't look like it's close to the joints at all, the ankle or the knee joint. So likely there's no cartilage damage. Long term, this leg fracture is probably better than any kind of injury that would have involved cartilage like a meniscus tear. It's definitely better than saying a Achilles, which would have dragged on to next season. I would say it's better than a Liss Frank or a Jones fracture in the foot. An ACL is probably somewhat comparable. An ACL recovery would have been a little bit longer, but ACL is also recovered extremely well, basically back up to 100%. So that's a toss up there. The good news with this Tib-Fib is next season should not be affected at all. He'll be ready well in time for training camp, ready for the start of the season. This is not an ACL Achilles, where not sure if he might even be ready for the next season or not. And now it affects next season's chances at the Super Bowl. All right, so that is the full wrap up on Aidan Hutchinson. If you guys have any questions or comments about that, feel free to hit me up on Twitter @jimileowMD or leave a comment on the YouTube comments. There was another guy who had a likely season ending injury, unfortunately in the Cowboys game. That's Kyle Pekko, a left-peck tendon rupture is very likely here. He's apparently having surgery. The video showed that there was an eccentric motion with that left-peck. He was reaching out to try to bring in a running back as that running back was breaking away from him. An eccentric motion is when the motion of the muscle is opposite of the way you're contracting. During the game, I strongly suspected that this was gonna be a full rupture of the peck because of how quickly he was rolled out. A full rupture can show a deformity of that peck muscle. So what probably happened inside that blue tent, they probably took off all his pads, took off his shirt and compared both sides. Since anatomy of everybody is different, it's important to do a comparison. And they probably saw that while this is not good, the pecks look totally different. You probably have a rupture here. Comparing both sides is important. In urgent care, I'll often do a comparison x-rays of the healthy side, which is really helpful in determining if an x-ray is abnormal or not. Everybody's anatomy is different, so a comparison when you're doing examination is important. Kyle Pekko was later placed on IR this week. Now, with him, is there a chance he could be back for the Super Bowl? Well, last year was CJ, GJ, he had a 16-week timeline. If Pekko has that same timeline, he'll be back the week before the Super Bowl during that bye week. But I'm not expecting him to be bad for a couple reasons. He plays a totally different position than CJ, GJ, who's a defensive back. Kyle Pekko, who's a defensive tackle, really needs his peck strength. So he's gonna do a longer recovery. He can't come back too early during the recovery period. Also, Kyle Pekko isn't as important to the team going forward as Aiden Hutchinson. So the Lions probably aren't gonna be as willing to open up a roster spot for him. All right, London, let me talk about a couple guys who got big extensions in the past week. David Montgomery signed for two more years, so he's with us through the 2027 season. And just this week, a couple days ago, Ali McNeil signed a four-year extension. This one is interesting to talk about because he proved his toughness last year. If you guys remember last year, week 13 against the Saints, this was the Him and Aiden Hutchinson collision. He sprained his MCL pretty significantly. I don't think they knew it was a significant MCL spraying during the game, as he continued to play the entire second half. He heard himself at the end of the first half. So he played the entire, almost the entire second half of the game on a significantly sprained MCL. Couple days later, after the game, he was placed on IR and missed the next four games. This guy proved his toughness, proved his grip, playing through a significant injury. And I think the Lions saw that, recognized that and giving him a big money deal is not a bad idea for a couple of reasons. First of all, you can trust that this guy is tough. You can trust that this guy is reliable and he's gonna fight through injuries. He's not a guy who's gonna sit out or take it easy to the rest of his contract. Also, giving these guys who have proven toughness, financial rewards, sets a great culture for the team going forward, sets a great precedent for other members of the team. Hey, if you guys play with toughness, if you guys show grit out there, play through injury as best as you can, be tough, you guys could get financially rewarded as well. It helps out with all 53 other members of the team, all 16 guys on the practice squad by giving these tough guys big financial rewards. All right, I'm gonna take a quick break here. I'm gonna come back in a second with the full preview of the Vikings game along with the initial Wednesday injury report. All right, guys, I'm back. Let's do the Wednesday injury report, the first one for the week. This is October the 16th. Start with the Lions. Couple minor surprises, which I'm not overly concerned about. Carlton Davis, an MP with a quad. He left the game after getting a cleat to his head early in the third quarter. He passed the concussion evaluation because he was hanging out on the sideline. Good to see, no concussion or a head on the report, but there is a quad. I looked at the video. There were no signs of any leg issues during his final drive. I'm guessing at this point it's a precautionary issue and we'll likely see an LP or an FP on Thursday, which would put him on track to play. Brian Branch had an LP with a knee. The knee listing was a surprise as I didn't see anything on the video, although it's possible he landed hard on his knee during his interception early in the fourth quarter. He played the first two plays of the next drive without obvious issues, but then was replaced by Brandon Joseph for the rest of the game. The LP is a good news though, as it suggests there's nothing serious going on compared to an NP. Branch laid in the game on the sideline, looked like he was in good spirits, so probably nothing serious going on unless there's a downgrade on Thursday with an NP. I'd expect him to play versus the Vikings. Dan Skipper with an NP with ribs. Remember, he heard his right ribs in game three versus the Cardinals, but didn't miss a game. Wouldn't surprise me if there's a fracture there. Those can take about four weeks to heal. He was wearing a visible protective pad on that right side during the Cowboys game. Regardless of that, he was still out there running wide receiver routes in the fourth quarter. Expect him to play versus the Vikings. Couple guys with rest, Frank Ragnell, and Zeitler, NP's with rest. Good to see that Ragnell's peck is not on the report. Remember, he strained his left peck three and a half weeks ago. The Cowboys game was his first game back. He was taken out late in the fourth quarter along with Zeitler during garbage time. No issues with both of them going forward. Christian Mahogany at an FP, he's racking up FP's at this point. He had all FP's last week as well. Remember, he had mono starting in July. From a physical standpoint, I think he could play in a game right now, but because he's so far behind mentally, I'm expecting them to max out his full 21-day practice window and he'll be put on the roster around October the 29th. Now some notables. Kirby Joseph heard his hamstring during practice last week, so it's good to see he's not on the report. Penne got rolled up on late in the second quarter on the demo touchdown. It was a slow roll. Didn't look like anything too serious on the video, but sometimes those can turn into high ankle springs. So good to see he's not on the report. Also Graham Glasgow looked to be in a lot of pain with his right lower leg, but on close video review, it looked like he just got cleated in the shin. There was a mark there likely as sock got torn, may have had some bruising, maybe even the laceration underneath. The rest of the game, he was playing with a more protective pad that you could see. Good to see he's not on the report. Now onto the Vikings. They got a bunch of guys on the report. Some of them very important. Blake Cashman, NP with a toe. He's an impact linebacker for them. He's got a turf toe issue that already reportedly is going to keep him out for at least this game. He played 100% of snaps the past two games. So that's going to be a big loss for them. Aaron Jones, NP with a hamstring. Although the way it was wrapped when he got hurt a couple weeks ago, looked like possible an IT band issue, an iliotibial band. Regardless, sounds like he's going to be out. The Vikings traded for Cam Acres just yesterday. So we may see a lot of him during our game. Harrison Phillips had an NP with a shoulder. He's their starting nose tackle has been playing every game this year, around 50% of snaps. So he'd be a big loss in the middle with him and Cashman possibly out. That could be big news for our running game. TJ Hocklinson, our old buddy, had an LP with a knee. He hasn't played since tearing his ACL against us last year. It sounds like he's probably not going to be ready to play against us again this Sunday. Remember that the Vikings have a Thursday game right after ours. So that may be impacting when they decide to put Hocklinson back in the lineup. Acaleb Evans had an NP with a hip. He's a quarterback, a backup. He's just a special team, although does now play on defense for them. Patrick Jones, an NP with a shoulder, defensive end. This could be a big one. He's had five sacks already this year. That could majorly impact their pass rush if he's out. Dalton Reisner, LP with a back. He's an offensive guard. He's yet to play this year due to injury. All right, that's it for this week. Again, the big news. Aidan Hocklinson, the bottom line with him is we'll likely see him in limited fashion for the Super Bowl, but he's not going to be back to his full usual self until training camp. He should be fully back recovered, back to his usual self without any long-term concerns or issues. All right, enjoy the game on Sunday against the Vikings. Thanks for watching and listening. Let's bring it here together. Let's go up, baby. Line's on, three, one, two, three. Pass! You've had enough of that shit.