Dallas Cowboy #21 Adam Jones out with neck injury
Adam 'don't call me Pac-man' Jones appears to be done for the season. No, not for another off the field melt down. This time he appears to be injured.
He is reported to have at least one herniated disk in his neck. The injury appears to have occurred during a muffed punt return Dec. 7th against the Steelers. Jones continued to play in the game but complained of neck pain on the trip back to Dallas.
A disk is the cushion or shock absorber between the bones in the spine. Terrible analogy but the disk is a lot like a jelly donut. It has a soft center surrounded by a very strong outer ring. If too much force is applied to the disk, the outer ring can fail and the soft center (normally about the consistency of crab meat) can be forced out (herniated).
This now herniated (center of the disk) material can place pressure on a nearby nerve or in more serious cases can place direct pressure on the spinal cord itself. Pressure on a nerve can cause tremendous pain, numbness, tingling, pins and needles and/or weakness in an arm.
Significant direct pressure on the spinal cord can cause similar effects in one or both arms. Too much direct pressure for too long on the spinal cord can cause devastating and potentially permanent injury. It is very difficult, if not almost impossible, to know how much pressure is too much or how long is too long. Therein lies the problem.
As a specialist treating these types of problems in anyone but especially elite athletes, the stakes are very high for all those involved.
Hey Doc, thanks for the detail. I've always wondered about what exactly a herniated disk is... I think I might have one, after reading this!
I was curious about what you thought of the last UFC event - the Ultimate Fight Night: UFC Fights for the Troops event in North Carolina that aired last night. I'm especially interested in any thoughts you might have on the more dramatic portions of the event, Corey Hill's ghastly leg break, Razak Al-Hassan's potential arm break, and of course Koshchek's spectacular knockout of Yoshida - and the time it took Yoshida to get up (they never showed him off the floor during the remainder of the show, and there's some speculation about serious injury there).
I'm a reader since column 1 on MMAJunkie.com, and love your insight into the sport. I've loved being able to read your blogs here as well; it's nice to see someone who's a true consummate sports fan, especially someone with a medical perspective on things. Keep up the good work, sir!
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