Surgeon: Jets' Geno Smith faces long, tough road to recovery

Metro—October 27, 2016

Metro reporter Kristian Dyer writes on recent injury to New York Jets quarterback Geno Smith who is done for the year after suffering an ACL tear.

He speaks with Joshua S. Dines, MD, sports medicine surgeon at Hospital for Special Surgery, who has not treated Smith, for background on this type of injury.

"The reason why it is such a long recovery is because to reconstruct the ACL, a tendon graft from somewhere else in the knee is used," Dr. Dines said. "The body then has to turn that tendon into a ligament. It is this biologic - or 'ligamentization' - process that takes time."

"Quarterbacks have a slightly higher return to play rate than other football players," added Dr. Dines.

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