Television cameras caught Mahomes slamming his helmet in frustration earlier than strolling to the locker room for testing.
“I’ve been in that X-ray room before, and it hasn’t worked out well for me,” Mahomes mentioned final week in an interview on Fox Sports 1’s “First Things First.” “I thought I was good enough to play, and I wanted to at least get one more series to get out there and see if I could test it out. Coach Reid … said: ‘You’re getting the X-ray before you play. So you might as well go now.’ ”
The good news was Mahomes had averted a fracture in his decrease leg. The dangerous news was he had suffered a high ankle sprain — an harm that may sideline a participant for six weeks, if not longer, and, relying on the severity, can require surgical procedure.
Mahomes missed a sequence in the victory over Jacksonville, then performed by the ache to steer the Chiefs previous the Cincinnati Bengals in the AFC championship sport, hobbling between sequence in the second half and taking further measures to keep away from touchdown on his ankle throughout his last run, which arrange the game-winning area objective.
Now Mahomes faces the tough process of doing it once more in Super Bowl LVII on Sunday. After two weeks of relaxation and rehab, his ankle may very well be markedly improved, nevertheless it nonetheless has the potential to restrict him on the largest stage.
“Certainly some of it depends on how he plants and twists and how he gets hit. He’s still going to be at risk of it flaring up or getting worse during the game,” mentioned Brian Polsky, a former Philadelphia Eagles group doctor who’s now an orthopedic surgeon primarily based in Maryland. “I’m certain there will be less swelling. They’ll be giving him daily treatments. … I’m not privy to how bad his injury was, but I would bet that he can make very good progress.”
Ankle sprains and their recoveries can range considerably. They often vary from a Grade 1 sprain — which is gentle, with swelling and ache — to Grade 3 — which is extreme, with torn ligaments. But in addition they might be distinguished by the location and the varieties of ligaments affected.
A low ankle sprain impacts the ligaments connecting the bones in the foot. A high ankle sprain impacts the tissue between the tibia and fibula in the decrease leg. The restoration time for a high ankle sprain is usually longer than restoration from a low ankle sprain due to the fixed weight-bearing and twisting and turning of the ligaments.
“The problem with a high ankle sprain … depending on the severity, is it can be as bad as crutches and non-weight-bearing and season-ending,” Polsky mentioned. “Or it can be a little more mild, where it’s just kind of a sprain of that tissue, and someone can initially limp around on it, and it tends to heal over four to six weeks.”
Neither the Chiefs nor Mahomes have disclosed the severity or grade of his high ankle sprain, however his capability to play in the AFC championship sport and stroll pretty usually Sunday when the Chiefs arrived in Arizona supply a extra promising outlook.
“My whole body was a little sore, so I don’t think I had any step backward or anything like that,” he instructed reporters Thursday. “I had no re-aggravation of the ankle — just the general pain I had playing with it. But other than that, I feel like I’m in a good spot.”
After the AFC championship sport, Mahomes credited Julie Frymyer, an assistant athletic coach and bodily therapist with the Chiefs, for main his rehab plan in the days earlier than the sport and serving to to enhance his mobility and vary of movement.
To deal with a high ankle sprain, typical strategies — elevation, ice, massages, anti-inflammatory and prescription ache drugs and electrical stimulation — could also be used in conjunction with dry needling or laser remedy to cut back the swelling.
“Rehab ebbs and flows,” mentioned former NFL security David Bruton Jr., who’s now a bodily therapist in Colorado. “He’s going to see positive gains, and he might take a step back one day because he’s pushed it a little bit. Then he’ll see more gains with what he’s able to tolerate. He might be on anti-inflammatories . . . to get the swelling down. Whatever the case may be, I’m sure that training staff for the next two weeks is like, after the game: ‘Okay, let’s just chill; he played a whole game on it. Let’s get it to calm down and then reintroduce him to quarterback [movements].’ ”
It’s not frequent that an NFL participant — or any athlete — performs by a high ankle sprain, given the ache and potential for long-term harm. Mahomes’s feat in the AFC title sport was a testomony to his psychological fortitude (and adrenaline).
But he additionally wouldn’t be the first to play by important harm in the NFL’s largest sport.
In the AFC championship sport after the 2011 season, New England Patriots tight finish Rob Gronkowski suffered what was reported to be a high ankle sprain. Speculation about his availability for Super Bowl XLVI was rampant, however he ended up taking part in and was restricted to 2 catches for 26 yards in the Patriots’ 21-17 loss to the New York Giants. He underwent surgical procedure days later.
Two years later, Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman needed to be carted off the area throughout Super Bowl XLVIII after struggling a high ankle sprain in the fourth quarter of a dominant win over the Denver Broncos.
“I’ve played through a pretty bad [ankle sprain], and that’s no fun — that’s for darn sure,” Bruton mentioned. “It’s tough. It’s tough playing hurt, but even more so with an injury that you should be missing time for.”
Bruton broke his leg in a sport whereas taking part in for the Broncos in 2015. He stayed in, not absolutely understanding the extent of the harm till the ache intensified and assessments afterward confirmed a fractured fibula.
“During the season, it’s more of a triage: ‘Let’s get you back into a position to get back on the field,’ ” Bruton mentioned. “It’s up to the players if they’re able to play through it. Obviously, consideration is given to whether they’d be doing more damage or if they’ve been able to tolerate some movement in the training room before they go on the field.”
Polsky added: “I’d imagine if this were the first game of the season, Mahomes would not be playing. They would take him out for a month, probably, and treat it week-to-week. But based on his MRI and physical exam, they decided … the benefit of treating this and playing vs. the risks were equal enough or in his favor.”