Christian McCaffrey going to Germany -
Keys you need to know on tendon injuries & impact of injections
•Tendon injuries don’t heal quickly or well on their own due to poor blood supply, especially if there are microtears or degeneration
•One key issue with tendon injuries is poor collagen production and disorganization, leading to mechanical issues of the healing tendon (issues with loading, and risk of future rupture)
•PRP injections can provide a high concentration of growth-factor filled platelets that can stimulate collagen production and improve organization of that collagen production, leading to improved mechanical properties.
Without help, your body often finds itself in a perpetual inflamed state that continues to get irritated with loading. My guess is this is where CMC found himself, with growing frustration.
•CMC is flying to Germany because they have the ability to produce a higher concentrated PRP which should accelerate healing, which I would assume he’s seeking due to frustration of how long it has already taken (and lingered).
With these injections, some athletes have been able to return within 6 weeks of the injections, even though remodeling is still occurring through up to 12 months. The injections should allow for quicker+improved collagen production, organization, and return to loading ability (eg: CMC sprinting, jumping, cutting.. load and tension through the Achilles). It’s not without risk, but return has been very possible.
—This is why I’m not viewing CMC flying to Germany as a “bad” thing. He’s seeking an accelerated healing rate. Best chance of that is in Germany, not the US.
And I do believe this gives him a shot to return after the 49ers week 9 bye, in the ~week 10-12 range. It really does depend on how the tendon responds to this treatment, but many of the outcomes have been very good, with a particular spike improvement close to 2 months (which would be week 12 if he’s getting treatment starting this week).
Tensile/loading properties will be key.
Another variable to consider is that a lot of studies discuss strictly PRP injections for non-elite athletes, so the hope is CMC is in the top percentile for recovery with this treatment in Germany.
Everyone heals differently, but hope remains. Stay tuned.