A heartbreaking injury for Dak Prescott will likely mean the end of his season, but North Texas orthopedic surgeons feel optimistic about his eventual return.
While Dr. Pat Peters with North Texas Orthopedics and Sports Medicine is not treating Prescott, he was able to give some insight.
“Typically we’ll put either screws or plates in to hold the bone in position and allow them to heal in a normal alignment,” Peters said. “Once the healing occurs or is far enough along then early rehabilitation is usually started to get the joint moving soon.”
The NFL reported that the bone punctured the skin so infection is an early concern in recovery.
“I’m sure Dak is in excellent condition. He is healthy,” Peters said. “He should have excellent healing potential. Then I would suspect that when he does his rehab he will be a superstar in doing that.”
Dr. Keith Heier, an orthopedic surgeon who works as a foot and ankle specialist for FC Dallas, was able to theorize about the nature of the injury.
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“Almost assuredly he is going to have a fractured dislocation of his ankle. The way he went down with his foot kind of flat foot with foot rolling in gives you what is called a pronation external rotation fracture,” Heier said.
“It looks really scary on video but they can really do well with this. It's a little bit more routine than even an ACL injury,” Heier added. “It takes a little bit of rehab to get back, but really most cases they can really be back to normal and do very well long term."
