Bob Sanders will never again play in NFL

[HawkeyeDug]

I shrunk about an inch after I injured my back. Ruptured S1, herniated L4 & L5. Went from 5'10" to 5'9" pretty quickly. Doc said he'd never seen anyone rupture their S1 disk. Guess I'm just special...

Can't imagine what compressing your spine X number of times per game would do to your height.

Which S1? S1S2 or S1L5. The numbers and letters refer to the vertebrae the disk is in between them. I ruptured my S1L5 when I was 24 somehow while I was laid up with a blown ACL. That back pain and the sciatic pain in my leg was terrible. I'd take a blown ACL over the ruptured disk any day. Unfortunately, as you probably know, it is something you'll deal with forever.

 

[bcl20]

Seriously, I might shed a tear if this is true. Football was created for people like Sanders. When I think 2000's Iowa football and "Bullies of the Big Ten" he is the person that automatically comes to mind.

On the flip side it wouldn't be surprising. Your body just can't take that kind of beating. Especially when you aren't that big.

 

[HawkAttack]

The Colts still got their money's worth if this turns out to be true. They don't make the SB that year they won it without Sanders coming back for the playoffs.

He got paid, got a SB ring, and a DPOTY.... not bad for a shortened career.

 

[Hawkeye10970]

The Colts still got their money's worth if this turns out to be true. They don't make the SB that year they won it without Sanders coming back for the playoffs.

He got paid, got a SB ring, and a DPOTY.... not bad for a shortened career.

He should've been the SB MVP, too.

 

[IOWuh]

According to Will Carroll who is some NFL injury "expert", a.k.a. blogger. I went to a "tweet up" with Peter King and other NFL media types he invited here in Indy Friday night.

I asked what was going to happen next year with Sanders and Melvin Bullitt (his replacement on the Colts). King let Carroll handle the question and then was going to add something at the end but then he was interrupted and never got back to it.

Anyway, Carroll said the surgery Sanders had this season was to literally re-attach his arm. Further, the aniestestiologist has to have accurate height and weight to determine proper dosage so they measured Sanders. He has shrunk 1 1/2 inches since the combine. Carroll said this was due to the all the impacts. That seems crazy. However, Carroll said the average NFL player shrinks 2 inches over the span of their entire career. If that's the case, Sanders doesn't seem so bad but I guess he's only played about 2 seasons worth of games.

I hope it's not true and I have not heard anything like that out here. However, the Colts are very secretive about injuries.

It doesn't sound like this source has much knowledge of medicine. It sounds more like a game of telephone where all the facts get jumbled. There is no reason for anesthesia to have an accurate height (weight is more important). There aren't any surgical procedures done to athletes to "reattach" an arm either. He might be hurt but this doesn't sound reliable to me.