Sports Rehab Write-Up: OLB Matt Judon
We’re about a quarter of the way through the 2023 NFL regular season and the injuries are really starting to pile up!
In such an intense & physically demanding sport, no player is exempt from the punishment -- not even the players known for dishing it out!
The New England Patriots got absolutely crushed last Sunday in their 38-3 loss to the Dallas Cowboys; unfortunately, they suffered another crushing loss that same day…
Late into the blowout, during the 4th quarter when the game was well out of reach, star pass rusher Matt Judon went down in pain holding his right arm. We’d later get confirmation that Judon suffered a biceps tear & will be out of action indefinitely.
Yikes!
Check out the play where it all happened & let’s see what we can gather from it:
In our replay, we can see Judon attempt to pull his arm forward and make a superhero tackle against a 200-pound running back heading North, while a 300-pound offensive lineman was pushing him South – a recipe for disaster!
The distal biceps tear is pretty rare in general, and is typically considered more of a weightlifter’s injury! Ruptures usually occur when a lifter is trying to handle a heavy eccentric load that’s forcing their arm into elbow extension. That would definitely apply to Judon’s situation here!
“The most common mechanism by which distal biceps tendon ruptures occur is due to an eccentric load such as a fall on the outstretched hand, elbow extension during heavy lifting, or an abrupt extension of the elbow with the arm in supination… Smokers present with a seven times greater predisposition toward tendon tears, along with athletes who abuse or used anabolic steroids.(Vandenberghe & van Riet, 2016)”
Distal Biceps ruptures also have a pretty distinctive look about them.
Let’s take a quick look at Judon’s right arm pre- and post-rupture!
Four images highlighting the very slight, but noticeable differences we can see in Judon’s bicep muscle belly after injury.
We can suss out a fairly clear difference in the biceps anatomy when we compare the healthy limb to the injured! We see more of a bunched up appearance near the upper bicep region & a little extra room near the elbow! Those torn muscle fibers gotta go somewhere right?
“In a torn distal biceps there would be anterior ecchymosis, swelling and a prominent biceps bulge at the anterior mid-arm level (Vishwanathan & Soni, 2021).”
So what’s next?
According to insider sources, Judon elected to have surgery to repair his torn biceps this past Wednesday; and, apparently, things went smoothly. We also know that the Pats have yet to place Judon on season-ending IR. So it seems they’re holding out hope!
Is an in-season return in the cards?
Well, according to the 2022 study done by Kolaczko et. al, the mean time to return to sport for all researched athletes was 4.86 months plus or minus 1.14. So conservatively, Judon might not be able to make a tackle for about 6 months; though, we have seen some return to play in as few as 2.5 months!
Of course, everyone’s situation is different, but with the intensity of American football & the demands of Judon’s position, even 6-months might be wishful thinking! A study looking back specifically at distal biceps repairs in NFL players from 2000-2016 showed that most were able to make a return, though not until about 11-months out (McGinniss et. al, 2021)!
Unfortunately, the NFL does Not run a 50-week regular season!
On the bright side, the biceps repair surgery is typically very successful & most will not see any significant strength deficits afterwards!
Let’s look forward to Judon making his return next season after a long, focused stint with the rehab team! The Pats will definitely miss his explosive playmaking & drive-stopping ability, but we can safely bet that he’ll be back next season as good as new!
The Patriots preach Next Man Up, but Judon’s gonna be a tough man to replace!
Works Cited & Further Reading
Vandenberghe, M., & van Riet, R. (2016). Distal biceps ruptures: open and endoscopic techniques. Current reviews in musculoskeletal medicine, 9(2), 215–223. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12178-016-9330-2
Vishwanathan, K., & Soni, K. (2021). Distal biceps rupture: Evaluation and management. Journal of clinical orthopaedics and trauma, 19, 132–138. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcot.2021.05.012
Carrazana-Suarez, L. F., Cooke, S., & Schmidt, C. C. (2022). Return to Play After Distal Biceps Tendon Repair. Current reviews in musculoskeletal medicine, 15(2), 65–74. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12178-022-09742-x
Kolaczko, J. G., Knapik, D. M., McMellen, C. J., Mengers, S. R., Gillespie, R. J., & Voos, J. E. (2022). Complete Isolated Ruptures of the Distal Biceps Brachii During Athletic Activity: A Systematic Review. Cureus, 14(8), e27899. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.27899
McGinniss, A., Guinand, L. A., Ahmed, I., & Vosbikian, M. (2021). Distal biceps ruptures in National Football League players: return to play and performance analysis. Journal of shoulder and elbow surgery, 30(7), 1647–1652. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jse.2020.11.010
Srinivasan, R. C., Pederson, W. C., & Morrey, B. F. (2020). Distal Biceps Tendon Repair and Reconstruction. The Journal of hand surgery, 45(1), 48–56. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhsa.2019.09.014
