http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/09/30/nick-collins-six-months-away-from-knowing-if-he-can-play-again/ 


Cervical fusion surgery. Looks like his career is in doubt. Hope for the best Nick. Thoughts and prayers.

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Just to make sure I got this straight.... Did he have surgery or did he go to the hospital called 'Cervical Fusion Surgery Hospital'?

I hate when a players career comes to an end due to an injury. Wish him all the best! Hope he does come back, all tho his health is more important than anything else.

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Cervical fusion is a career-extending surgery, not a career threatening surgery. Way to incite widespread Packer panic, Michael David Douche....

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ya I guess if you are a orthopedic surgeon performing that yes ...
but from the patients I have seen with any fusion it does not bode well for functioning let alone long term health of the human body.

not sure if it was noted but check this out ...

"
Collins is not in pain and can perform the normal function of daily life, and he might not have needed the surgery at all if he were just an average joe and not a football player. But Collins wanted the surgery because it gave him his best chance to return to the field. He still has a long way to go before he’ll know whether that’s a realistic possibility.
"

So no pain no loss of neurological function (as noted here and other articles; yet he got one of the most life changing surgeries one can get to the spine ... and ya this is the type of surgery that I see where people want me to help them and you can imagine its a bit tough since I am dealing with surgically changed tissue.

Im going to have to assume his mri showed a disc bulge that looked like it could impede on the spinal cord etc ... ya ya and before everyone gets in a fuss; this happens all the time disc bulges ... as a matter of fact if we took an mri of all the packers home folks right now 30-40% would show a disc bulge. Ya 30-40%. (more like 30% but these are just numbers I got off the net from doing a quick search).

anyways ... there are other treatments for a disc bulge; hint hint

I wonder if money has anything to do with why the surgery was performed and suggested??? ... a quick search again showed a wide range of numbers but I saw a few listed 90-100,000 and these were from a few years ago ... wonder how much it would be for a professional athlete? ...

"So Mr. Collins I think spinal surgery is your best option to get back to playing football again; your career is over if you dont get this done because of the potential spinal imnpingement and (here it comes) chance to become quadriplegic if it is not performed" ... "Ill let you decide what to do ..."

scary stuff huh ...



wonder if he says that to all his patients that have no symptoms/neurological loss or if its just for guys with good insurance and or money.

no use complaining to you guys ... I should complain to the packers organization.

I agree Dulak. In fact these structural issues don't even necessarily correlate to pain or malfunction. Didn't Sterling Sharpe's career and with a neck fusion surgery?
I see patients with spinal fusion all the time. After a couple years, the neighboring vertebrae need to be fused to the already fused ones. Occasionally it works out, for the first couple years. Most of these are low back though. Pretty scary with a neck fusion to think about running full speed and crashing into an NFL RB.

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ya if anything its probably worse to go play with a neck fused vertebre - ie they suck the disc out of most of it then look to fuse the bones together. Basically increasing the chance for spinal impingement because of the small space and like you said nerfmann then they get to do it again with the one above or below and could prob continue ...

all for someone with No symptoms or neurological problems ... thats the kicker.
I mean I have a hard time trying to convince someone of treatment when Im working on preventative care to someone without symptoms and atm my costs are 30pounds ...
that ortho must be good to do the same but charge 100k+

- btw sent a errr letter off to packers.com (to the career email; hopefully it gets to the right place).

I am glad that Nick is not in pain and can do everyday activities and I wish him the best.

As a practical fan, this means he is gone for the season and his contributions will be missed but I am still not worried about our secondary. Maybe one of the questions this next offseason will be if he can comeback.

As an optimistic fan, he will be back just in time for the Super Bowl!

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Me = Fail. My WebMD post should have been in this thread instead. I hope the fusion goes well and very please Nick Collins will have a "normal" life regardless of playing football.

Terrence Murphy was drafted in the same round of the same draft. I'd rather see Nick Collins retire than risk further injury. I believe his surgery was similar to Peyton Manning. I'd prefer they both retire. I love watching Nick play, but I'd rather be able to see him walk in 10 years without aid than see him play football ever again.

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Is it just me or does it seem that this type of shit strikes the good players more so than the scrubs? Terrence Murphy, Gerry Berry, Nick Collins, Sterling Sharpe. WTF!

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