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http://www.azcentral.com/members/Blog/KentSomers/138682

Ryan Williams shouldn't "miss a beat"

Arizona Cardinals update:

A ruptured patellar tendon is such an unusual injury that a busy orthopedic surgeon might see only a handful of them in a year.

Cardinals running back Ryan Williams suffered one in his right knee on Friday night and is expected to undergo surgery early this week, coach Ken Whisenhunt said.

I was able to reach Dr. Daniel Kharrazi, orthopedic surgeon at the Kerlan-Jobe Orthopaedic Clinic in Los Angeles, to briefly explain the surgery and the rehab timeframe Williams faces.

"The surgery itself is not very difficult," Dr. Kharrazi said. "You basically reconstruct the mechanism that allows you to extend your leg when you run. When the tendon ruptures, it gets a little frayed. You clean up the tendon, drill holes through the patella, or the kneecap, and reattach the tendon."

The hard part comes after surgery. The leg is immobilized in a brace for a month. After the tendon has healed, usually a total of six to eight weeks after surgery, then the patient can begin rehab, Dr. Kharrazi said.

"The No. 1 thing is, when you are in a brace for that long, you have a lot of quadricep atrophy. That's what takes two to three months."

So a patient is looking at "five to six months" between surgery and the time he can return to the level of his previous activity. If all goes well, Williams should be able to return to action in 2012 with no problem, Dr. Kharrazi said.

"I don't think he'll miss a beat," he said.


Saturday, August 20, 2011 at 04:12 PM

Too bad about Williams being out for the year. He and Wells would have been a very potent combo, if only they could stay healthy.

Looking back over the years, RBs have gone to Arizona to die. This franchise can't catch a break when it comes to that position.

Only 13 1000-yard rushers in 80+ years of existence. 5 of those years came from Ottis Anderson and 2 from Edgerrin James. Just for reference, the Texans have 4 in just 9 seasons of existence.

Johnny Johnson, Ronald Moore, Adrian Murrell, Marcell Shipp, Michael Pittman, then Emmitt and Edge. Not an illustrious history of top-notch RBs over the past 20 years.

It must be something about the dry desert air?...

I know Pudge, my time playing for the Cardinals was rough. The uniforms were ugly, our offensive line was piss poor, I couldn't even tell you who our quarterback was..

Still can't believe James had his best game for the Cardinals against the Falcons of course. That game still burns so much, that was our year to be the dream team.

Yeah this was a big bummer, I expected him to do very well, even as a rookie. Injury doesn't sound too bad, I just hope he gets back to truly 100%. His natural god given rb talent is undeniable.