Robert Griffin III’s long road back to the football field likely began on January 9, just minutes after waking up in a recovery room in Florida.
If his experience with Dr. James Andrews was anything like previous patients, physical therapists were tugging on his knee long before the anesthesia had wornd off.
Griffin seriously injured his knee during Washington’s playoff loss to the Seattle Seahawks and underwent surgery at the hands of Dr. James Andrews to repair his LCL and re-do a previous ACL tear sustained while he was still at Baylor.
Teammate Adam Carriker and former WWE champion Bill Goldberg are both familiar with Andrews’ zealous rehab process, each having undergone shoulder surgeries at the hands of the famed orthopedist.
“Andrews is extremely aggressive in his rehab,” said Goldberg. “Once you get out of surgery he wants range of motion in the post-operative room.”
On his radio show, 4th & Pain, Carriker bluntly recalled his experience with Andrews as he awoke from his procedure.
“The first thing I did was puke all over the place,” the Redskins defensive end said. “The second thing I did was they grabbed my right shoulder and moving it around.”
And that’s when the pain set in.
“I was literally half second away from punching the stupid P.T. in the face,” Carriker stated. “She was mad at me because I was crying like a little girl and I was mad at her because she was making me cry like a little girl and I didn’t appreciate it.”
Despite the nearly intolerable pain, Carriker says you cannot argue with the type of results produced by Dr. Andrews.
“That’s just exactly how he approaches his rehab and that’s exactly what they’re going to be doing with Robert,” he said. “That’s why he has such great success.”
In the hours following Griffin’s surgery, Andrews released a brief statement through the Redskins with a rosy prognosis for the star quarterback — he would be ready in time for start of the 2013 season.
Having performed thousands of surgeries on countless athletes and developing a pristine reputation over his decades in practice, Andrews’ word is solid in the eyes of the Goldberg.
“If Andrews thinks he can be ready, then I think there’s a distinct possibility,” he said. “I don’t think Andrews is basing it on anything other than experience and fact. He is a person who has made his name on his reputation and I don’t think he’s just giving answer shot out of his ass… I trust him.”
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