Leonard Davis on Channel 3 this AM

[cards 24-7-365]

I saw BIG on channel 3 this AM while he was doing rehabilitation for his ankle at a local physical therapy clinic (they were doing a feature on one of the news anchors getting therapy for her shoulder). The news anchor was asking him a couple of questions.

I think it was taped not live, but I found it odd that a player (especailly one as important as BIG) would not be spending every waking moment at the Cards facility getting treatment / rehab with the Cards staff.

I know it is common for players to train in the off season with their own people but I find it odd that this would occur during the season.

It brings up a question that somebody asked on an earlier thread - who makes the decision on when these guys return from injury ? Is it the player, the team medical staff, the coach or now is it their personal therapist who is not affiliated with the organization. If he is doing his rehab outside the organization, how do they (team medical staff) assess his condition?

Maybe Jim O can shed some light on this. This isn't a Boston type of thing where BIG only deals with his "personal trainer" is it?

 

[JeffGollin]

This isn't a Boston type of thing where BIG only deals with his "personal trainer" is it?
One school of thought holds that medical personnel - who should make the health of each player's their top priority - are paid by the team and therefore (despite, no doubt, their protestations to the contrary) beholden to their employer instead of the player.

There has even been the suggestion that each team should have a doctor paid by the NFLPA or League on staff to act in the player's best interest.

I'm not saying it's definitely so, but it's at least possible that some players (including even Davis) may feel more comfortable being under the medical supervision of a doctor of their own choosing rather than the team doc.

 

[cards 24-7-365]

In most situations, the team doctor is not an employee of the team. The team doctor volunteers his time to the organization. In return he can A) get paid to do many of the surgical cases that arise from professional sports and B) Advertise that he is the "team physician" for the Arizona Cardinals.

In some cases medical firms bid against each other for the "right" to be the medical providers for professional sports teams. There was a feature about this on "Outside the Lines" about the St Louis Cardinals (baseball) after Daryl Kile died.

I'm pretty sure it is in the Collective Bargaining Agreement that a player has the right to get second opinion or to see the medical professional of his choice.

I guess the end result is that we all want Leonard healthy so however he gets there the fastest is good but I fear that anytime somebody, especially one of your stars goes outside the organization for something as routine as an ankle rehabiliation it is not a good thing.

 

[Tangodnzr]

Where does he live?

Maybe its just a simple thing like convenience, for something like that. I mean after all, its not like we are talking brain surgery here.