New Orleans Saints running back Reggie Bush insists that a December microfracture surgery to repair his damaged left knee wasn’t as serious as the typical full-blown microfracture procedure, describing it as a “clean-up” to smooth out cartilage.
Bush told the New Orleans Times-Picayune that he underwent a cartilage repair called a “chondroplasty,” with renowned orthopedic surgeon Dr. James Andrews performing the surgery.
Per the Times-Picayune, Bush said he’s been off crutches for a few weeks, has resumed workouts, and is on schedule to participate in the Saints’ offseason training program in March.
While the somehow-only-23-year-old former USC star acknowledged that some microfracture techniques were utilized, he added that there was no exposed bone inside his knee, which is typically the reason why microfracture surgery is conducted.
“I feel like I’m right on track,” Bush said.
Saints G.M. Mickey Loomis acknowledged earlier this week that the surgery was a somewhat minor microfracture procedure after coach Sean Payton labeled it as an arthroscopic surgery in late December.
Regardless of the severity of the surgery, Bush has suffered four different “minor” injuries to his left knee over the past 14 months and has been sidelined for 10 of the Saints’ past 20 games. That’s enough of a recurring problem to raise eyebrows around the NFL about Bush’s durability as an undersized back at 6-0, 203 pounds.
Bush, who returned three punts for touchdowns and generated 660 844 yards of total offense this season before being placed on injured reserve, expressed frustration with being saddled with so many injuries.
“I think it has been unfortunate mishaps these last few years, but it’s definitely something I can’t ignore,” Bush said. “I need to focus on strengthening my knee to the point where it doesn’t happen again. I’ll work with the doctors, trainers and weight staff, doing everything possible to get ready for this season.
“This is my job, this is what I love to do, so it’s frustrating. It’s nobody’s fault, but I won’t allow it to happen a third time. Two times is enough. I’ll do everything possible to make sure I’m 110 percent. I’ll push my butt more this year than I ever have, because of the injuries, and because I owe it to the city, I owe it to the team. I don’t feel like I’ve lived up to the expectations that I have in my own mind.”
In three NFL seasons, Bush has rushed for 1,550 yards and 12 touchdowns and caught 213 passes for 1,559 yards and eight touchdowns.
REGGIE BUSH DOWNPLAYS 'CLEAN-UP' KNEE SURGERY
Posted by NBC Sports on January 9, 2009, 1:38 PM EDT
19 Responses to “REGGIE BUSH DOWNPLAYS 'CLEAN-UP' KNEE SURGERY”
Give me Steve Slaton any day.
A lot of cut and pasting….not Florio’s style….feels like a newspaper article not an opinion blog…..come on Aaron
Everyone just needs to face the fact that Reggie Bush is overrated. At best he is a special teams player. He can’t stay healthy, is not good enough to be a full time running back and to small to be a wide receiver.
Thank You
I have had a chondroplasty done – twice – to my knee, and it is definitely different from microfracture. Microfracture is done to get scar tissue to grow to fill in missing cartilage when there is an exposed bone surface, and the purpose of chondroplasty is to try to smooth out a rough part in the cartilage to prevent further cartilage damage.
I’m obviously no doctor, but after 3 knee surgeries I’ve learned a bit, and can say that this means Reggie’s articular cartilage (the thin layer either on the femur or on the back side of the patella) has worn away a bit. If it wears through all the way to the bone, Reggie most likely isn’t gonna be able to do what he does anymore. I hope for his sake it’s not as bad as mine is, but if it this continues to get worse – a degenerative condition – he’s going to have a much shorter career than he hopes to.
I went from being able to intensely train for a marathon at age 27 to not being able to run more than 3 miles without my scar tissue wearing all the way through at age 29. Only 5 yrs later and some more complex surgery techniques (cloned cartilage insertion) have allowed me to resume a moderate level of running and biking.
Oh, and here is a link that describes chondroplasty:
http://www.pamf.org/sports/king/osteoarthritis.html#Chondroplasty
“In three NFL seasons, Bush has rushed for 1,550 yards and 12 touchdowns and caught 213 passes for 1,559 yards and eight touchdowns.”
I was going to add which is 20 td’s more than Florio made in his YOUTH football carrer combined…then I noticed it wasn’t Florio…so never mind…
i know you like to hate on Bush, Florio, and i’m most certainly not a Saints apologist (and i hate USC), but i think there is too much hate on Bush in general…. while he’s not the most impressive rusher ever, he is a game-changer and has a special athletic ability. The challenge would be for Payton to integrate his talents into the offense. By involving him so much in short passing game instead of N-S running, i think they are doing that.
He may not be Walter Payton, but he’s not Kijana Carter either. The guy does put points on the board, does get yards. He’s just not durable (yet). Don’t think you can call him a bust…. if anything, fault the media for hyping this kid up to high hell when he was coming out in the draft.
All i know is that when he is in the line up Defenses key on him, becuase of his big play ablilty. I don’t care if he isn’t a every down back. If you haven’t notice there aren’t alot left in the NFL. Every team now has two good running backs to share the load. Anyway Payton has done a good job using his talent to fit his O. And the Saints O has been great for the past 3 years without a everydown back. No bush is not a RB or WR, but hes a X factor when he’s either doing speacial teams, catching the ball, or running it.
404 yards rushing + 440 yards receiving does not equal 660 total yards.
vis says:
January 9th, 2009 at 2:39 pm
404 yards rushing + 440 yards receiving does not equal 660 total yards.
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They must have counted -184 yards for being hit in the backfield.
Good eye, vis. And that doesn’t count his return yards. If you show his full stats instead of pick and choose, Reggie had 1114 yard and 9 TD’s in 10 games. By comparison, Reggie averaged 111.4 yards and .9 TD’s per game and Steve Slaton had 104 yards and .69 TD’s for games. No knock on Slaton, he had a great year, but he’s certainly not head and shoulders over Bush. Bush just needs to stay healthy.
After the exhaustive don’t call us we’ll call you search this is the best guy you could come up with Florio? I would hate to have seen the rejects…
“but i think there is too much hate on Bush in general”
he was the #2 overall pick
“Reggie averaged 111.4 yards and .9 TD’s per game and Steve Slaton had 104 yards and .69 TD’s for games”
Slaton what drafted in the 3rd round
“Bush just needs to stay healthy. ”
yeah cause he has shown that ability.
its time for the media, fans, everyone to swallow their pride and admit the Texans made the correct choice. They got their pass rusher, AND they have a better RUNNINGback then bush.
“The guy does put points on the board, does get yards”
3.8ypc, 40 rec yards a game?
ahmad bradshaw is better running back then bush. theres probably 25 RBs a coach/gm would rather have
I don’t get the “somehow-only-23-year-old” comment. He was born in March 1985, graduated high school in 2003 (at 18), went to USC for three years, entered the NFL draft after his Junior year in 2006 (at 21), and he’s played three seasons in the NFL, but the NFL season ends before his birthday, so he won’t be 24 until March.
not only are the elite backs better then him, but the following also had better seasons:
kevin faulk, derrick ward, chester taylor, leon washington, warrick dunn, correll buckhalter, mewelde moore, fred jackson,
deanezag
A. Mario Williams is an excellent pass rusher and the right choice at number 1.
B. Slaton is not a better back than Bush. They do different things. Reggie is a better reciever out of the back field AND a better return man than Slaton. Slaton is better between the tackles. As I’ve already stated, Reggie averaged more yards and TD’s per game than Slaton. Also, Defenses have been keying on Reggie Bush since his first NFL snap. Part of the reason Slaton had such a good year could be because no one expected him to be that good. Let’s see how he does when D’s start paying more attention to him next year.
C. Texans got a lot of flack for picking Mario Williams, but that’s no reason to over compensate for your insecurity by trying to tear down a guy that gets a lot of undeserved hate as it is.
maybe he hurt his knee when kim rolled on him…ooow.
When I first read this I was a bit surprised to see little or no hatred for Reggie like Florio usually shows, then I realized it was some kid he hired to do the writing. Apparently he didn’t get the memo from Florio that all posts about Reggie Bush must contain sarcasm, hatred, and criticism.