Brandon_graham_microfracture

Oh hello, football news. How are you? This is something we didn't know.

Philly Sports Daily has confirmed that when Brandon Graham had surgery on his ACL, which was torn on December 12 (just a day before the Phillies bought their fans a beautiful Christmas pony), doctors also performed microfracture surgery, a significantly more risky procedure. 

The grammatical stylings, from Mr. Tim McManus:

Recovery time for an ACL tear generally ranges from 6-8 months, with the understanding that it may take up to a year until the knee starts to feel really good. Oftentimes it takes a full season until a player is totally back to form.

According to Dr. Chris Dodson, an orthopedic surgeon at the Rothman Institute at Jefferson Hospital, the recovery time for microfracture surgery is about the same as for ACL surgery. The difference is that the body’s response to microfracture surgery is less predictable. He estimated that where there is an 80-90 percent recovery rate for athletes that undergo ACL surgery, the success rate for microfracture is closer to 60-80 percent.

 

That is something the Eagles never told us about. It appears that doctors noticed the problem while performing surgery on Graham's ACL.

Microfacture surgery drills holes into the bones, in an effort to promote the growth of cartilage, which would help prevent bone-on-bone rubbing… or as I like to call it, “crossing swords.” But hey, I’m immature.

If you remember, this was one of the procedures discussed as a possibility for Chase Utley, whose swords were crossed in his knee.

Here's what Reid said about Graham's surgery on December 22nd:

"Brandon Graham had his knee repaired and that was successful – Anterior Crucial Ligament and Dr. (James) Andrews did that. And they're both resting well right now, so they'll get on the rehab as soon as they possibly can."

 

Annnnd…

Microfracture surgery.

Although Reid said back in March that Graham most likely won't be ready for Week 1, Graham did participate in Jalen Rose's golf outing this week. That's a good sign.