Video: Doctor details Cowboys LB Damone Clark's spinal fusion & return timetable

[CouchCoach]

Ain't no thang, he was not a 2nd rounder. This is more calculated risk than gamble.

And when you have a wildcatter as an owner, at what point do you think risk is no longer part of the game? I think to him, that is the game.

 

[G2]

I think some people are blowing this out of proportion. This is more about painful and uncomfortable pressure on nerve, not the spinal cord and it's really not skeletal. The team Dr. explained (and I paraphrase) that the important thing is that the sections complete the fusing process before contact. He will be in no more of a risk than most other players. He literally could have kept playing if he could manage the discomfort and inflammation. This is like what Romo went through when he had a bulged disc.
The only thing that sucks is the waiting.....

 

[America's Cowboy]

I did 30 years of Neuro Trauma nursing. Y'all best keep your fingers crossed. This could heal well enough that we could cover his rookie contract and get good service out of him.

I didn't watch the whole bit by the sports doc (only half) but I'll add my thoughts. Each level of the spine has multiple joints allowing flex in your trunk (chest and abdomen areas). There are 26 vertebrae with discs between the individual vertebrae that act as shock absorbers. With Clark one of these burst so the surgeon went in and got the spacing correct then built a bridge (fusion) across the disc from good/stable vertebrae to good/stable vertebrae. Healing time is the time for the bridge to be overgrown by new bone. This bridge can be made out of the patient's own bone (generally the iliac crest) or cadaver bone. Once the bone overgrows the fusion it makes all the joints around the this fusion less flexible to totally immobile.

End result is part of the spinal column loses flex. This will inevitably put new and different stressors above and below the repair job, Something has to pick up the new dynamic forces because instead of flexible joint faces you now have a chunk of immovable bone. In spinal repair surgery we often see these new injuries local to the old injury. In the average joe this may not show up for years. In a finely tuned collision athlete, who knows, start having high speed impacts and see. Backs are fickle.

I was waiting for someone with medical experience to post such critical but proven information. I refused lower back fusion 20 years ago for the same reasons you pointed out. I feel it's just a matter of time until nearby discs start getting affected due to the physicality of the sport and the impact surrounding discs will be increasing due to the lack of mobility due to the fusion. I say if the Cowboys are able to get 3-4 years out of Damone Clark, we will be lucky. I hope he is super careful.

 

[Ranched]

This will be exciting seeing the 3 headed monster eating up opponents. But, like everything else, the kid needs to heal 100%. This draft pick was a huge steal for Dallas.
LOL, Egals.... Dallas gotcha again!

 

[jazzcat22]

There was no optimism with Jaylon Smith if you paid attention to what the doctors going on record had to say. There was a timetable for nerve regeneration and once that passed it was highly unlikely his condition would improve any further. He was still wearing a brace long after that window passed.

When he was drafted there was very little chance he'd ever regain full function of his foot.

That was just a really ANOTHER idiotic decision by a terrible front office.

Fixed it for you.

 

[reddyuta]

its still a contact sport but we can afford a 5th RD to see if he play a few years.

 

[Vinnie2u]

We had 25 5th rounds picks. I’m ok with gambling on one. It’s not the same situation as LVE and Jaylon.

 

[visionary]

I’m ready for multiple multiple Doctor Google threads for the next year telling us what a great pick he was and how his neck will be even stronger because of the surgery

I’m also ready for all the personal anecdote threads about how someone’s third cousin twice removed or player when they coached in PeeWee league had the same surgery and was playing 1 week later








At least I think I’m ready

 

[xwalker]

As much as the board rags on Jaylon, 2018 he played really well. I will say this you could see at the end of that season his gate started getting worse. It looks like he could only give us about 14 games. I still can’t believe the Joneses gave Jaylon a long term contract because you know the doctors would not be ok with his long term future.

Yes, it is questionable if the injury was primary Jaylon's problem.

His number 1 problem is that he was clueless on the field.

 

[DandyTom64]

Because Jerry wants to think of himself as a rouge owner who does things his way. All too often these gambles dont pay off and blow up in his face.

His version of Al Davis.

 

[stilltheguru]

He looks like he has issues shedding lineman. We need physicality

How so?

 

[atlantacowboy]

The take home point here is that you don't take on the medical gambles in round 2. Round 5 is when you want to start taking some risks. Damone is a great gamble.

But the first 3 rounds have to be guys that help right now..

 

[Creeper]

I don't have an issue with the Cowboys using a 5th round pick on Clark. But I do have a lot of questions about his injury. Clark claims he was not aware of an injury in his neck until doctors found it during an exam. Now I had a herniated disc in my neck and it was causing problems in my shoulder and forearm, and weakness in my left hand. I had a throbbing pain in my left forearm that was so intense it made me nauseous. It resolved with physical therapy and NSAIDs.

Clark had no pain? So why did doctors decide to fuse the vertebrae? Seems like the most drastic measure. Why not physical therapy and traction first? With traction they stretch the vertebrae to allow the disc to retract back in place.

Also, now that he has had the fusion, which is basically bone graphs, even if the fusion is successful, how strong are the bone graphs? What if he take a big hit or twists his neck awkwardly, like LVE did?

 

[Stash]

He looks like he has issues shedding lineman. We need physicality

I didn’t see those issues with him at all. Quite the opposite in fact. And his productivity numbers support that.

 

[stilltheguru]

I didn’t see those issues with him at all. Quite the opposite in fact. And his productivity numbers support that.

Ok

 

[CowboysFaninHouston]

Spinal fusion?

I can't believe we didn't take him in the second round...

second..psha....I was thinking worthy of a first rounder....

 

[J_Allen]

second..psha....I was thinking worthy of a first rounder....

No we take projects in a second round. Is Jerry's way of showing everyone that he can get first round prospects in the second.

To my knowledge, the only 2nd rounder with red flags who ever amounted to anything besides a headache was Larry Allen. And that was only because he wasn't motivated academically. Those were his red flags. We're not talking about a bipolar drug addict, someone with a shredded knee, or back up tight end. We're talking about somebody who had a hard time and just wasn't motivated to do much besides play football.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

I'm going to go on a bit of a limb and say Clark will be practicing in October. I don't know that he will make it onto the game day roster but it's 2 months post op and he doesn't appear to have significant neuropathy.

Cervical fusions are entered from the throat. That sounds scary but when they go through the lower back they have to move and work around large nerve bundles to put in the plates and screws. You inflame nerve bundles via crush cut or stretch and you go for a ride on the hella pain train.

I've seen guys 2 months post fusion that are basically bed/couch ridden from neuropathy. Seems like in Clark's case they got it before the nerve damage got bad and the surgery itself didn't create any that is apparent. Any complications like an infection or poor fusion haven't manifested. The bone in your back has the same 4-6 week timeframe as any other bone.

Nerves are obviously more problematic and inscrutable. I'm still bullish on his ability to play this year.

 

[Sydla]

I’m ready for multiple multiple Doctor Google threads for the next year telling us what a great pick he was and how his neck will be even stronger because of the surgery

I’m also ready for all the personal anecdote threads about how someone’s third cousin twice removed or player when they coached in PeeWee league had the same surgery and was playing 1 week later








At least I think I’m ready

LOL, so true.

But in fairness, a 5th round flier on this kid seems like a solid risk. I'd rather take a shot on this guy than some 6-6, 145 lb CB they found playing football in Punta Cana.

 

[CowboysFaninHouston]

No we take projects in a second round. Is Jerry's way of showing everyone that he can get first round prospects in the second.

To my knowledge, the only 2nd rounder with red flags who ever amounted to anything besides a headache was Larry Allen. And that was only because he wasn't motivated academically. Those were his red flags. We're not talking about a bipolar drug addict, someone with a shredded knee, or back up tight end. We're talking about somebody who had a hard time and just wasn't motivated to do much besides play football.

I was being sarcastic....