Shawn Merriman's Career May Be Over

[texasguy346]

Apparently the rumor that was circling a couple weeks ago might be true.

link

[76Texan]

That's too bad for him!

[gary]

Great player too bad it had to end this way I wish him the best.

[TexansLucky13]

I'm no expert... are we sure that this is career ending?

[GuerillaBlack]

I think people are jumping to conclusions too quick. It looks like he won't play this season, but I don't think it's career ending.

[gary]

We'll see.

[J-Russ]

How I really feel: Karma's a *****, he shouldn't have cheat those first couple of years, now he has anger the football gods.

Alittle more on the classy side: Hope you got your degree in college, or else, good luck flipping burgers at what-a-burger.

[J-Russ]

If this is true, can we say this was the hit that put him into retirement?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTbCtjX_y0w

[rmartin65]

He is a great pass rusher. But with the steroids... Dont steroids but a bad stress on your ligaments?

[CloakNNNdagger]

For those who may not remember or even be aware of, this is the exact same combination of injuries for which AJ was operated on last year.

[stingray]

Originally Posted by CloakNNNdagger

For those who may not remember or even be aware of, this is the exact same combination of injuries for which AJ was operated on last year.

Wasn't AJ's ligaments just partially torn?

[CloakNNNdagger]

Originally Posted by stingray

Wasn't AJ's ligaments just partially torn?

They were torn and stretched enough to render his knee significantly unstable, the same as Merriman.

[dc_txtech]

I heard a few days ago that Merriman visited the dreaded Dr. Andrews, when a player admits that his career might be over it's very bad news.

CND, AJ didn't tear his LCL last year did he?

[The Pencil Neck]

Originally Posted by rmartin65

He is a great pass rusher. But with the steroids... Dont steroids but a bad stress on your ligaments?

It's not that the steroids put stress on the ligaments but that the muscle bellies can get stronger than their attachments (tendons) and that you can create strength imbalances that can put unnatural stress on the ligaments. That's why anabolic steroids get a good synergy from hGH. But some types of steroids, Deca iirc, help with ligaments and tendons and make your joints feel much better.

At least, that's what I've heard.

[CloakNNNdagger]

Originally Posted by dc_txtech

I heard a few days ago that Merriman visited the dreaded Dr. Andrews, when a player admits that his career might be over it's very bad news.

CND, AJ didn't tear his LCL last year did he?

No, you're actually correct, he tore his MCL........leads to the same horizontal motion instability.........just from the other side.

[dc_txtech]

Originally Posted by CloakNNNdagger

No, you're actually correct, he tore his MCL........leads to the same horizontal motion instability.........just from the other side.

So in your opinion is AJ's injury possibly on the same level as Merriman's?

[CloakNNNdagger]

Originally Posted by dc_txtech

So in your opinion is AJ's injury possibly on the same level as Merriman's?

Yes, and that is why I have been remained guarded about AJ's ability to return and/or time of being ready to return, level of performance if/when he returns...........and his ability to stay of the field.

[Texans_Chick]

Originally Posted by CloakNNNdagger

For those who may not remember or even be aware of, this is the exact same combination of injuries for which AJ was operated on last year.

Are they the same injuries?

Here's the description of Merriman's injury:

Sometime early this coming week, Merriman will fly to Miami to get one more opinion on how he should proceed. As was revealed earlier this week, he has a torn posterior cruciate ligament.
"Many guys play with that," Merriman said. "No big deal."
Perhaps the bigger issue is that Merriman has a tear in his lateral collateral ligament (LCL) as well, a fact that he revealed Saturday.
"The combination makes it kind of difficult," Merriman said. "It makes your knee feel very unstable. It's something that I've been trying to deal with, hoping it would get better by now."

As I understood, the description of Andre Johnson's injuries was a "PCL/MCL sprain" That he did not get operated on last year because the best way to rehab that would be rest and strengthening the muscles around the sprain. And that the operation Johnson had this spring was a scope to remove particles from the knee that were causing irritation. (And I've been told he hasn't had previous operations to that knee).

With Merriman, the public pronouncements are tears to both the PCL and LCL.

Is that not different?

[CloakNNNdagger]

Originally Posted by Texans_Chick

Are they the same injuries?

Here's the description of Merriman's injury:



As I understood, the description of Andre Johnson's injuries was a "PCL/MCL sprain" That he did not get operated on last year because the best way to rehab that would be rest and strengthening the muscles around the sprain. And that the operation Johnson had this spring was a scope to remove particles from the knee that were causing irritation. (And I've been told he hasn't had previous operations to that knee).

With Merriman, the public pronouncements are tears to both the PCL and LCL.

Is that not different?

Again, not having "direct access to all the facts," I'l try to answer your questions. First of all, the term sprain and tear are interprettable. Sprain can refer to stretching out of the ligament as well as a "partial tearing." Keep in mind that in stretching of the ligament, there is tearing of the structure. When the injury is referred to as a "complete tear," that is pretty well the only definitive description. When you have an isolated PCL injury (sometimes even severe), it is many times hardly noticeable, the other ligaments (ACL, MCL, LCL) can, so to speak, "compensate." However, as the PCL is further stressed/stretched/torn by continued play, the overcompensating ligaments, especially the MCL and LCL are stressed beyond their limits and eventually "give" to the added stress with injury to its own structure. As this continues, the knee becomes more and more unstable, with the joint grinding in abnormal motions with overload surface friction, and with resulting knee cartilage damage. The "clean out" that AJ necessitated is most likely due to this cartilaginous damage to his knee. Even when the ligament injury is supposedly "healed," the later effects of chronic progressive arthritis are not unexpected. The actual assessment of the success of the healing process will be known only when AJ gets on the field and applies the "true test."


TC, I would challenge you to find a media source that reported specific MRI findings.........they either report that a "sprain was revealed" of "revealed that surgery would not be necessary."

[Texans_Chick]

Originally Posted by CloakNNNdagger

Again, not having "direct access to all the facts," I'l try to answer your questions. First of all, the term sprain and tear are interprettable. Sprain can refer to stretching out of the ligament as well as a "partial tearing." Keep in mind that in stretching of the ligament, there is tearing of the structure. When the injury is referred to as a "complete tear," that is pretty well the only definitive description. When you have an isolated PCL injury (sometimes even severe), it is many times hardly noticeable, the other ligaments (ACL, MCL, LCL) can, so to speak, "compensate." However, as the PCL is further stressed/stretched/torn by continued play, the overcompensating ligaments, especially the MCL and LCL are stressed beyond their limits and eventually "give" to the added stress with injury to its own structure. As this continues, the knee becomes more and more unstable, with the joint grinding in abnormal motions with overload surface friction, and with resulting knee cartilage damage. The "clean out" that AJ necessitated is most likely due to this cartilaginous damage to his knee. We don't know that this is not a repeat cycle or continuum of what he went through in college. Even when the ligament injury is supposedly "healed," the later effects of chronic progressive arthritis are not unexpected. The actual assessment of the success of the healing process will be known only when AJ gets on the field and applies the "true test."


TC, I would challenge you to find a media source that reported specific MRI findings.........they either report that a "sprain was revealed" of "revealed that surgery would not be necessary."

The media reports will never be specific enough.

I haven't heard of any reports of him having this issue in college.

The reason why I thought Merriman's situation might be a little different as far as severity is the repeated reports in his case that a number of people are suggesting surgery is the best option for Merriman. Which suggests to me that his situation is more severe than AJ's. Though the Texans are pretty good at keeping things quiet.

I do know through my own sources that I'm very confident in that the scope AJ received this spring is the only surgery that he has had on his knee.