Yeah, I saw that Zimmer said that his knee condition was degenerative but I don't really know what that means. Is it going to keep getting worse if he plays or whether he plays or not? Does it put him at a higher risk of injury? Was it degenerative before he had the ACL injury or was it because of it? Are there different degrees of degenerative-ness?
All of that on top of the fact that in the same report Zimmer said Bradford was on vacation skiing. So, does any of it mean that he shouldn't/can't continue to play football? Dr. James Andrews said after the last procedure that his knee is good to go. Ligaments, tendons, etc. are all in good health.
I have a degenerative knee due to a couple meniscus tears in my twenties and thirties. Staying active helps it but abusing it makes it worse. The docs told me, exercise bikes, no hoops. They didnt even want me jogging on a treadmill because it was too stressful... my guess is avoiding nfl rushers and taking those hits would be pretty stressful too.
Degeneration of the knee causes accelerated arthritis which causes bone spurs, swelling, calcium buildups and all that destabilizes the knee and pushes your ligaments and tendons out of proper position opening you up for further injury.
I am sure Sam has access to plenty of anti- inflammatories and such to help himself to stay healthy but there is no way to avoid long term damage at this point.. it is just a matter of when his knee needs to be replaced, not "if"
of course...since its gonna have to happen anyway he may have decided to go ahead and bank another hundred mil before it happens
