Dak Prescott Injury & Rehabilitation Process Explained by a Sports Injury Specialist

Dak's Injury & Road to Recovery

The Dallas Cowboy’s star Quarterback, Dak Prescott injury, sustained a gruesome, season-ending injury to his ankle during the third quarter of this past weekends’ matchup against the New York Giants.

It was announced that Prescott underwent surgery, to repair a compound fracture and dislocation of his ankle. This was very likely a season-ending injury for Dak, as it takes time for this injury to heal, on top of the fact that he will have to go through rehabilitation in order to get to 100%.

It was officially reported by multiple news outlets that Dak Prescott sustained a compound fracture and dislocation of his right ankle in Sunday’s game against the Giants. This means that the bone itself broke, as well as breaking through the skin. Additionally, the bone was moved off to the side or – dislocated (this is a very simple explanation of a complex injury). This got me thinking a lot about these types of injuries in general, and what the recovery and rehabilitation process involves. So, let’s talk about what to expect with a Musculo-Skeletal injury.

In layman's terms muscle bone problems, are generally treated by several options (which option, is dependent on the severity of the injury at the beginning).

His doctors may have him on a medication regimen at this time and will consider starting him off with light therapies roughly around four to six weeks in duration. After that they will start increasing the resistance and working on increasing range of motion (ROM) of his leg and ankle. Once they have increased stability in his ankle and leg, as well as improved on his overall ROM, they will likely end up focusing on strength exercises & therapies. After strength has developed and increased, typically the attention should be on incorporating functional motions, such as actions and movements performed in a football game.

The Road to Recovery: There are no Skipping Steps!

In Dak’s case, he suffered a pretty severe injury, and while injuries might not be as severe, the steps to recovery are still the same. It can be a tedious & time-consuming process; however, it is imperative to work hard and focus on each part of recovery. There are no skipping steps, there is no “next before you finish the previous step”.

You should find a rehabilitation provider who is going to know the correct steps and know when to transition into the next step. This is very important in order to have the right pace of progress, because if a doctor believes you are progressing faster than what you are you could hurt yourself and get worse.