Reed Blankenship left Sunday’s Eagles win in Baltimore with a concussion, while Dallas Goedert left in the fourth quarter with some sort of knee injury and DeVonta Smith didn’t play at all for a second straight week due to a hamstring injury.
Dr. Bradley C. Bley, DO, from Delaware Sports Medicine joined the 94WIP Morning Show on Monday to discuss all three starting with Blankenship, who has now suffered multiple concussions this year, which has to be a concern for his long-term health.
“Any time you get a repeat injury, you always worry that it's going to cause a little bit more damage. It doesn't matter if it's a knee injury or a head injury for that matter,” Dr. Bley said. “That’s one thing I think the NFL takes into consideration, is the history of injury when they're evaluating somebody on the sidelines. As far as long-term outcomes, I think a lot of it really depends on the recovery there and how he does with it. So, hopefully, we follow the path of what we've seen here with some of the other concussion injuries recently, an he’ll be back in a week or so, and be ready to go for us.”
What about Goedert, whose actual injury is still kind of an unknown?
“I didn’t see any specific injury, but one of the things looking back at his injury history, when he had an ankle fracture, I believe in 2020, he came back and at the end of the season ended up straining a calf muscle there,” Dr. Bley said. “So, any time you have one injury, you always worry that one of the last things to come back is your balance, your stability. And you've got to kind of wonder, with this previous injury was he quite 100 percent there trying to play through it? And, did that put him at risk for having a little bit of instability and in another injury?”
There is also, it seems, good news on the status of Smith.
“I think the fact that he practiced and warmed up is a good sign there; when it comes to hamstring injuries, similar to Goedert there, you don't want him to come back before he's quite 100 percent and put that at risk for another injury, maybe not even just a hamstring injury,” Dr. Bley said. “We know with hamstring injuries that when it's tender to touch, it's a drastic increase, almost six-fold in risk of reinjuring it, but if it's just sore when you try to run or sprint, it's a higher risk of about 1.2 to 1.5 times increased risk of reinjuring it. So, I suspect he's probably in that range where it's not really hurting him to touch anymore, but probably so when he's doing something at maximum capacity, he might be feeling a little bit, and instead of risking it, they're just saying, hey, we're winning and doing all right, let’s hold off.”
Dr. Bradley C. Bley, DO is with Delaware Sports Medicine and sees patients in Wilmington and Townsend, Delaware.
Dr. Bley is board-certified in internal medicine and primary care, sports medicine and a certified strength and conditioning specialist.
Dr. Bley specializes in sports related and other muscular skeletal injuries, ultrasound-guided procedures, including joint and tended injections, and the management of chronic exertional compartment syndrome, as well as mild traumatic brain injuries (concussions).
Dr. Bley works with many local area high schools, and is a member of the Board of Directors for the Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association and Chair of the Sports Medicine Advisory Committee.
Dr. Bley is very active as a teacher and currently serves as the Assistant Program Director for the Primary Care Sports Medicine Fellowship and as a Faculty for the Combined Internal Medicine-Pediatrics Residency Program at Christian Care Health System.
Dr. Bley continues to be recognized as a Top Doctor by Delaware Today since 2013.
For more information about Dr. Bradley C. Bley go to www.desportsmed.com