Sports Rehab Write-Up: C Ryan Jensen
Aggh! Sad NFL news this week! The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have placed their Pro Bowl Center, Ryan Jensen, on season-ending Injured Reserve.
During the 2nd day of the 2022 training camp, Jensen suffered an extremely severe left knee injury that involved structural damage to his ACL, MCL, PCL, and menisci, in addition to a tibial plateau fracture.
Ouch!
Jensen had to miss the majority of the ’22 regular season, but was able to come off of IR & suit up for the Bucs Wild Card playoff game against the Dallas Cowboys. On top of that, he played really well!
While Tampa Bay went on to lose that matchup, ending their season; Jensen’s performance provided a glimmer of hope for the future, and the expectation was that he would be able to return for the 2023 season & continue to fortify their offensive line.
That’s why this latest announcement is so mystifying to many! Jensen passed his physical at the start of this year’s training camp; and, though he did have to miss the team’s preseason games, the prevailing thought was that his return to the field was coming sooner rather than later.
So what went wrong?
It seems Ryan may have rushed back to action a little prematurely. The Pro Bowl Center decided to forego any surgical intervention, instead opting for a conservative rehab approach with the assistance of stem cell injections.
Mesenchymal stem cells provide a very unique & fascinating, but also sometimes controversial, healing agent. It’s important that we approach the subject with curiosity as opposed to critique! Jensen’s exact procedure is especially interesting, as reportedly his medical team utilized stem cells that were harvested from the donated umbilical cords of Antiguan babies that were born via cesarean section!
That’s not something you hear every day!
The literature is still growing on stem cell treatments, but many of us are generally familiar with their proposed benefits.
Mesenchymal stem cells have the ability to transform into various other cell types, modulate local inflammatory responses, & promote structural growth (Leong et. al, 2020). It makes sense that the expectation of the stem cell injection was to promote tissue healing & structural regeneration in Ryan’s injured knee! Studies on animal models have regularly highlighted the intervention’s bone & ligament healing capacity (Lee et. all, 2023).
So, while the jury’s still out, the stem cells likely did help a lot!
Jensen’s chosen rehab approach may have got him back in time for the Bucs’ run at the title, but unfortunately, the stem cells weren’t a cure all. Following the team’s announcement that he was going on IR, Ryan revealed that the ligamentous & bony structures of his knee have recovered well, but he is still limited by lingering damage to his cartilage; for that reason, many NFL insiders believe Jensen may have played his last snap of pro football.
Will he ever play again?
Most tenured healthcare professionals would agree, it can get pretty difficult to implement the optimal rehab strategy when you’re dealing with high-level competitive athletes. Executives, fans, and teammates can all attest to the high level of passion & emotion Ryan Jensen plays the game of football with. There’s no universes in which he would have missed that Cowboys playoff game! Keep in mind that this was his Hall of Fame teammate Tom Brady’s retirement season!
What’s most important & noteworthy in this situation is that Jensen was allowed to make the critical decisions regarding his health & his career when it mattered most; and, regardless of outcome, he’s regret free! Being a trusted & compelling health care practitioner requires making such decisions, as we saw in Ryan’s case, on a regular basis! Our patients’ needs & goals should always take priority when it comes to constructing a plan of care!
“Nah, I don’t have any regret... You know we did a bunch of imaging, before and after that game and there was nothing glaring on that MRI post-game… there was nothing that happened in that game that set me back.”
It’s impossible, with such little information, to say if Jensen will be available to return next year; but all the signs are pointing in the right direction! Most importantly, Ryan has made it clear that his main focus for the season is rehabbing his affected knee & staying patient on his journey back to full health!
At this point in the rehab process, Jensen has assured the media that his only remaining complications are that the lateral compartment of his knee has “deteriorated” & that he has significant, cartilage damage. From the way the center’s described his situation, it seems that he’s got a year full of quadriceps & lateral hip strengthening ahead of him; this should help add some stability to that lateral compartment & reduce discomfort throughout the knee due to the abnormal joint loading he’s experiencing.
Conservative rehab is a marathon, not a sprint; passion & instinct may help in spurts, but willpower & consistency will win you the race!
If you’re dealing with a similar injury & seeking professional guidance, consult your trusted physical therapist to equip you with the appropriate strength & ROM exercises to get you back in the lineup!
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Works Cited & Further Reading
Leong, N. L., Kator, J. L., Clemens, T. L., James, A., Enamoto-Iwamoto, M., & Jiang, J. (2020). Tendon and Ligament Healing and Current Approaches to Tendon and Ligament Regeneration. Journal of orthopaedic research : official publication of the Orthopaedic Research Society, 38(1), 7–12. https://doi.org/10.1002/jor.24475
Lee, C. S., Jeon, O. H., Han, S. B., & Jang, K. M. (2023). Mesenchymal Stem Cells for Enhanced Healing of the Medial Collateral Ligament of the Knee Joint. Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania), 59(4), 725. https://doi.org/10.3390/medicina59040725
