Jace Howard Injury was Misdiagnosed by Michigan Staff
I won't link the Freep article from this afternoon, since that's not allowed, but in a direct interview with Jace he is quoted as saying:
Although Howard said he couldn't get too much into the details, he did confirm his injury has lingered longer than initially hoped and was not properly identified when it first occurred.
That's what prompted him to recently fly to Los Angeles — that's where he met with Dr. Neal ElAttrache, the Los Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Dodgers team doctor who performed surgeries on Kobe Bryant's knee, Tom Brady's Achilles and Tarik Skubal's elbow, among many others — to hear from an outside source.
"I was getting a second opinion because originally I was told it was a stress fracture but actually it was a tendon tear, like a small tendon tear," Howard said. "So it was misdiagnosed and I just wanted to get some more clarity with it, I was able to get some good news, I’m able to start progressing and hopefully I’ll be able to be back in two or three weeks — hopefully two."
Just wanted to share as this is more information, and low-information debates are not particularly productive.
December 16th, 2023 at 9:30 PM ^
Sounds like Jace made a good call in getting that second opinion. I don't know how easy it is to miss that on his imaging, but it's certainly unfortunate.
December 16th, 2023 at 10:23 PM ^
Depends on the ligament torn, but tears could be very challenging to detect, and depend on some bone edema to perceive, which is the same way you would see a subtle stress fracture. Both overlap in appearance and can be subtle.
December 16th, 2023 at 11:49 PM ^
Ummm, so . . . I read through this thread and didn’t see this posted yet. Does that doctor’s name not ring a bell for anybody?
He’s the same guy Cade saw in LA last year. Seems he’s oddly become the go-to guy for telling Michigan athletes they’ve been misdiagnosed by Michigan’s staff.
December 17th, 2023 at 12:38 AM ^
He is a big shot doctor. Does a lot of the MLB Tommy John surgeries.
December 17th, 2023 at 1:18 PM ^
Surgeon to the stars. Or at least to top flight athletes. He also recently operated on both Aaron Rodgers and Shohei Ohtani…
…but most notably performed knee surgery on me a few years ago. Still not sure how I was able to get in to see him.
December 18th, 2023 at 8:17 AM ^
User name definitely checks out.
December 17th, 2023 at 12:43 AM ^
He's also the doctor who operated on Aaron Rodgers' achilles tendon tear, Ohtani's elbow, Joe Burrow's torn ACL and MCL, Saquon Barkley's torn ACL, among many others. He's as renowned as it gets.
I assume that Michigan didn't pay for this 2nd opinion, and that this is one of the benefits of having a rich family who can pay for it.
December 17th, 2023 at 4:59 AM ^
Oh I don’t dispute that. Guy operated on Brady and Kobe so he’s clearly well respected.
I just found it interesting that he’s involved once again with a now-prominent injury “controversy” of sorts for Michigan athletes and our medical staff.
December 17th, 2023 at 8:12 AM ^
As soon as I saw the thread title I just knew this is what it would be. So is the M medical staff consistently misdiagnosing tendon tears? Can there be any truth to this? Or is this guy in LA someone with an agenda? Either his own ego or something against M docs?
December 17th, 2023 at 9:02 AM ^
The first I remember of issues with Michigan medical staff diagnoses/ conclusions is the Benjamin St. Juste fiasco. Told him he was medically unfit to play football; transferred to Minn.; now he's several years into a successful NFL career. Then All, Cade and Jace having issues like this. Not sure what to think. Is this a Michigan thing, or just a few random occurrences? Does this happen in other athletic programs with any degree of frequency?
December 17th, 2023 at 3:24 PM ^
Who knows but I bet the Michigan staff gets hundreds of these diagnoses correct and just about every gets a few wrong. I suspect some of the careering ending diagnoses are with respect to a second injury which may be disastrous like the case of Grant Newsome. Newsome could play again but a repeat injure could lead to the loss of his leg.
December 16th, 2023 at 9:31 PM ^
Just because a different doctor has a different opinion does necessarily mean he was misdiagnosed by Michigans staff.
December 16th, 2023 at 9:33 PM ^
Well, someone misdiagnosed it, right? There are different diagnoses out there. Jace seems pretty sure of which one is the correct one, too. (Which doesn't make him right, I understand.)
December 16th, 2023 at 9:37 PM ^
It also does not mean the original was wrong. It is possible to have both issues.
December 16th, 2023 at 9:39 PM ^
Good point.
December 16th, 2023 at 10:17 PM ^
That's how I interpreted the comments. More of a missed the second issue (the small tear) than actually misdiagnosing.
December 16th, 2023 at 9:37 PM ^
A lot of medicine lies in a gray area, particularly for non-operative sports injuries that require variable amounts of rest and physical therapy for recovery either way. My guess is that neither doctor can definitely prove what the problem is, that’s why it is called a second “opinion”
December 16th, 2023 at 9:41 PM ^
He does seem to indicate that now that he has the correct diagnosis he can start making progress on his injury, but it is still a fair point.
December 16th, 2023 at 9:51 PM ^
Yes. And not to throw shade at Jace, but either of those doctors (as well as anyone commenting on a sports blog based on a freep article) are more qualified to render that opinion.
December 17th, 2023 at 8:44 AM ^
I work in oncology and we have a thing called "tumor board." It's where the room is filled with about 12-15 doctors from all different branches of possible oncologic care - med onc, rad onc, surgery, etc. A pt gets presented and everyone provides their opinion.
I've never been to one of those where everyone agreed on all aspects of the case. Now, this is a room filled with doctors that I would trust my family with. As to your point about the gray area, I don't think non-medical folks understand how pervasive that is. And that's not a slam on non-medical people, because if it's science, it is hard to wrap your brain around that idea from the outside.
December 18th, 2023 at 12:04 PM ^
As someone in a health care field, I'd generally recommend getting 2nd opinions on things if possible. Human bodies are really complex. Here you've got very well respected, well educated professionals who don't agree.
Gets potentially worse for most of us who don't have access to world class health care. Anybody, including doctors, can be lazy or uncaring or bad at their jobs.
December 16th, 2023 at 11:06 PM ^
Thank you. Some physicians make a living out of telling patients they were misdiagnosed and mistreated and "I'll do the best I can, but if only you'd come to me first."
December 17th, 2023 at 1:54 AM ^
Jace's point--which he makes in the interview--was that because the real problem wasn't identified, they weren't doing therapy that would fix it. He's now on the road to healing up with the new diagnosis. This is of course why people get second opinions. It doesn't make the UM doctors idiots. But it could say something about Jace's exasperated outburst that brought on Sanderson's comments and the confrontation (the subject of the story).
The OP has, for whatever reason, skipped over the big emphasis of the article, which was Jace's observation that the kerfuffle with Sanderson was a misunderstanding and not such a big deal. The fact that a sizable portion of this board seized on it, twisted it (apparently without even reading the account from Michigan enemy Goodman, who pumped it into the "news" cycle), used it to call for Juwan's head. . .
It's pretty clear now that people in the program DID feel Sanderson's explosion was way out of order. And it's totally understandable that having the guy b*tch about team culture in front of the players would have pissed off Juwan, his BOSS. Those who think that Juwan isn't allowed to get angry may experience a number of letdowns when he doesn't get fired again and again over the next couple of years. :)
Essentially, we are even now talking about a single incident where Juwan lost it with a guy who was threatening UM players, and was disciplined for it. Yup, that was bad news; nope, he's not going to get fired for it now. Anything else he's done pales next to or is totally in line with occasional outbursts from much of the rest of the Big Ten coaching fraternity. I'll stop posting in his defense, though, and sit back and enjoy the way the anonymous haters fail to do anything more than spin their wheels here, RCMB-style. You get as popular as mgoblog now is and a certain portion of the chat is going to be fairly lowlife stuff. We're a nation of haters at this stage, and while I think that a lot of the heat toward Juwan echoes ugliness that the twenty-year NBA veteran and future hall of fame player has had to live with lifelong, the bigger point is the way it fits, so obviously, into the internet ugly that we have all grown tired of. Have some fucking love/patience/compassion for your own alums and sports heroes, jeebus.
December 17th, 2023 at 7:37 AM ^
Perhaps Juwan could have dealt with Sanderson more professionally given his prior issues, not to mention his healing heart. Maybe a private talk behind closed doors could have de-escalated the situation and resulted in both coaches having a future in the program. That’s what I would want to see from the leader of the program.
December 17th, 2023 at 10:04 AM ^
There are always two sides to every conflict. Perhaps, as indicated in several reports, Sanderson shouldn't have undermined the program in front of his boss and the team. As the boss, putting an end to that behavior and making sure it doesn't fester/spread is part of Juwan's job. Juwan likely reacted to keep the team aligned and focused on their goals by either bringing Sanderson back in line or pushing what he perceived to be a malcontent out the door. It certainly is not part of Sanderson's job to publicly undermine his boss by critiquing the culture he has established - good, bad, or average. Given Juwan has very openly praised Sanderson's work in the past, I can see why he took exception.
December 17th, 2023 at 12:17 PM ^
All that Jace said about it was this:
"but it was obviously a misunderstanding and from what the reports were, it was almost completely false."
Which is interesting, but didn't seem like it was as relevant as Jace's subtle indication about the conflict's cause. You're not really supposed to copy-paste the whole article and one line + the headline didn't seem as relevant as Jace's comments on the injury itself.
December 16th, 2023 at 9:31 PM ^
Our football and basketball doctors sure seem to have a lot of issues diagnosing injuries.
The football doctor diagnosed Zinter with turf toe despite his leg hanging off.
December 16th, 2023 at 9:36 PM ^
I can't find anything to corroborate what you are saying, and it is patently absurd. Zak had turf toe as a freshman, otherwise you're just lying.
December 16th, 2023 at 9:39 PM ^
Maybe there was a /s that is very hard to see, otherwise I don't get it either
December 16th, 2023 at 9:39 PM ^
He is hopefully being sarcastic. They took him off the field on a cart with his leg in a splint. They obviously knew it was a leg issue.
December 16th, 2023 at 9:44 PM ^
It was a joke.
December 16th, 2023 at 9:49 PM ^
A regular Don Rickles, you are.
December 16th, 2023 at 9:49 PM ^
Not a good one.
December 16th, 2023 at 9:51 PM ^
Calm down. It's gonna be okay.
December 17th, 2023 at 6:03 AM ^
I think he just wants you to be better at jokes. I cant help but agree.
December 16th, 2023 at 9:52 PM ^
/s.
Always remember /s.
December 17th, 2023 at 1:14 AM ^
But if it's good /s, you don't need the /s.
December 17th, 2023 at 1:38 AM ^
And that was good enough...Jesus Christ people
December 17th, 2023 at 11:58 PM ^
There's always a chance someone won't realize it without the /s.
December 16th, 2023 at 9:31 PM ^
Jace is a good defender and gives 100%. Would like to get him back ASAP.
December 16th, 2023 at 9:37 PM ^
He's a good team guy for practice. Not a playable guy.
He's not as good as defender as people think.
He gives effort, but is not a Power 5 quality athlete. He looks out of place on the court.
Been here four years and still can't shoot.
December 16th, 2023 at 9:49 PM ^
He does give good effort and can be okay if he’s someone you bring in for a couple minutes before a media timeout, end of 1st half etc. because he can play hyper aggressive maybe make a play or two and can accept a bust here and there.
Offensively though, man…I’m not sure I’ve seen him make a play in his career where I went “wow that was a real good job by Jace.” In fact, every time he has done anything marginally average on O, I am surprised.
December 16th, 2023 at 9:57 PM ^
This isn’t true. It’s a common refrain now but Howard is an effective player. He is a 10-15 per game player who makes hustle plays and shows high basketball IQ. He’s a solid rotation player and the people saying otherwise just hate Juwan.
December 16th, 2023 at 11:08 PM ^
Agree to disagree. He averaged just under 8 mins/game last year with ~1 point and 1 rebound. I wouldn't say that's a 10-15 min / game player. Tray Jackson is averaging 10 mins this year and has 6.4 pts 3.4 rebounds. That's a 10-15 min guy off the bench. Jace can be a spark plug for a few mins while someone gets a blow but he isn't a scorer, facilitator or anything more than some decent D and effort. You do not want him out there for 25%-35% of a game, come on.
I'll support him because he reps UM well, but let's not exaggerate his skill set.
And no, I don't hate Juwan.
December 17th, 2023 at 12:13 PM ^
How in the world does a statement sticking up for one of our players draw at least 6 negative votes?! I know it's not fans of other teams on this board because Buckeye Chuck and the Nittany guy are too classy for that.
December 17th, 2023 at 1:24 PM ^
I didn't neg him, but my guess it's his assertion that if you don't agree that Jace is a solid 10-15 min rotational piece (he isn't, he is barely serviceable at 5-7 mins) Then you must hate Juwan. His words exactly.
You can support a player while honestly assessing them.
December 16th, 2023 at 9:51 PM ^
Eh, his return will allow others to reduce their workload a little, but I'd say he's far from a good defender. Plays hard but is not skilled despite being a scholarship player for 4 years.
December 16th, 2023 at 9:33 PM ^
But it's so much more FUN to argue based on hunches, suppositions, guesses, and low/no information.
December 16th, 2023 at 9:51 PM ^
I'd like to know how this new information connects to Sanderson. Did Sanderson mess up something in training that resulted in the tear?
December 16th, 2023 at 10:29 PM ^
This new information tells us nothing about the Howard-Sanderson saga. It does allow for more speculation though!