HOUSTON — Houston Texans star J.J. Watt is out for the rest of this season with a torn pectoral muscle. He left the game in the second quarter of the Texans game against the Oakland Raiders on Sunday.
Dr. Theodore Shybut is not Watt’s doctor, but knows all about torn pectorals and how to fix them. He is an orthopedic sports surgeon for Baylor College of Medicine.
He says this is a common injury for power athletes like Watt.
“If the momentum of another player coming against him, pushes the arm out the way, the pec running between the arm going this way and pulling that way tends to get overloaded and tear," Dr. Shybut explained.
He say surgeons will have to re-attach the torn muscle to the arm bone using heavy stitches and anchors.
After that, he says Watt will be in a sling for a while, with several months of rehab.
"The prognosis is good, typically these are repaired surgically and the results for return to sport and return to function are very good with current surgical techniques," says Dr. Shybut.
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