Bengals Linebacker Vontaze Burfict Recovering from Microfracture Surgery
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David Lee/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — It is unknown when one of the NFL’s top linebackers will see the field again as Vontaze Burfict of the Cincinnati Bengals is recovering from microfracture surgery.
Microfracture surgery is a procedure performed on knees that have suffered cartilage damage. It is viewed as a serious surgery that has derailed the careers of various athletes in other sports, including football.
Still, the surgeon who performed the procedure, Dr. Neal ElAttrache, is hopeful Burfict will be ready to go by training camp.
“I don’t see any reason, if this thing heals like we want and we think it will, why he won’t be back like he was,” ElAttrache told the NFL Network. “Microfracture has a bad connotation, but there are plenty of guys who have come back and been able to play like before. But it’s not really news when it works out.”
Burfict was limited to just five games in 2014, but in 2013 he recorded an NFL-high 171 tackles.
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