Temple Health Sports Specialist Breaks Down Eagles’ Injury Toll

it is game day and we just watched the eagles lose to the carolina panthers this team is really banged up nearly half of the active rosters on the injury list i saw a video on x yesterday calling the Lincoln Financial Field Hospital level one trauma center really i'm not a fan of ai videos but i think that one is appropriate so i want to bring in Dr. Ryan Schreider, sports medicine physician, orthopedic surgeon at Temple Health. Thanks for joining us, Dr. Schreider. Thanks for having me. In your time as a sports medicine physician, have you ever seen the injury list this long with the Eagles or any other NFL team? I think, you know, when it rains, it pours. I think there's been seasons where there's been a lot of injuries and yeah this is i think this is so impactful because of the the specific players that are injured specifically you know your starting quarterback and your offensive line which are extremely important when it comes to football and um yeah i just think the you know the eagles are trying as best they can but this is part of the game that's what makes football so great but unfortunately for our team it's just it's just not a great start to the season from an injury standpoint. Absolutely and then we found out yesterday that Jalen Hurts is now on injured reserve because of this superficial blood clot so this essentially means that he'll be out for a minimum of four games we may not even see him until that November 22nd game versus the Steelers because they have a bye week before that week. I know a couple of days ago when you were commenting on this, Dr. Schreider, that there was a possibility that Jalen would be on blood thinners, you said, for 45 days to three months. With this time frame here, does it sound like he would be on blood thinners? And I know you're not his doctor, but what do you think is going on here? I know there are a couple of treatment options for Jalen. Yeah, this is the art of medicine and yeah i'm not jalen's physician i'm in i'm pulling for him i i i don't know him personally but i i just think he he's a really good person and he has a great brand um in regards to his treatment uh the the key is to decrease that blood clot as quickly as possible to prevent it from moving to prevent it from getting any bigger and when when that happens the player in this case or a patient would be on a blood thinner or an anticoagulant to prevent that clot from getting any bigger moving anymore and the standard treatment there for this type is is typically that 45 days now if he's getting scans with an ultrasound and the clot would potentially disappear that would be the a choice that maybe it could be a lesser time but but really, I wish I could predict it. I'm good. I'm not that good. And, uh, you know, I just really hope he stays healthy. And, um, I mean, he's in really good hands, um, with the physicians, uh, there with the Eagles and, and, and the physicians around the Philadelphia area. I mean, he, he, he's in a great, great spot and I know he'll do, I mean, I think he attacks injuries. I think he attacks everything just like he would a Super Bowl and he's, he's proven that he's been successful there so I have no doubt that he'll be successful with this treatment. Can you explain why it's not safe to play on blood thinners? I think to some folks it's pretty obvious but for others it really isn't. So can you explain why it isn't safe to play on them? Yeah so football is called a collision sport and when collisions happen trauma can happen and trauma can happen in the abdominal area. Trauma can happen in the head specifically. And our body has a specific innate ability to stop bleeding from happening that would normally happen. When you manipulate that, the bleeding cannot stop. And that would be brain bleed. That would be a massive impact to death so that you know that's why patients that are on blood thinners uh are fall risks so you don't want patients to fall things like that and so that's one of those injuries that we would try to prevent or that that one would prevent Jalen from from happening on the football field and so it would be what's called a contraindication to play football while you're on an anticoagulant or blood thinner is there anything about Jalen's health condition um that makes you think about Zach Wheeler he was out for a very long time due to a blood clot is are there any similarities that you see right now um so we're on for like three hours right so we can figure this out no uh so Zach Wheeler had a DVT, so a deep so it's just deeper in okay yeah and it's it's it's a little bit more risky um uh what what Zach Wheeler had um so so they're similar but but but different yes all right yeah so that that's that's the fear and the hope that this does not happen with Jalen that the blood clot goes even farther into into his calf there because superficial superficial essentially means that it's closer to the skin where this blood clot is, correct? Yeah, you nailed it. Yeah, all right. Oh, look at that. You know, I should be a doctor. I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. So with all of these injuries, we have Will Shipley out for a foot injury. We have linebacker Jalen Hunt out for a knee ankle injury. Landon Dickerson out with a knee injury. DeVonta Smith thankfully cleared to play. Did you watch any of the game today? Of course. Did you, did it seem like even the guys cleared to play that they were even a hundred percent yeah i mean you know that's i mean they still look better than anything i would do is some you know old buddy duddy on a couch you know but uh yeah the um they looked no they looked really good and um i i mean they're they're trying to make as many plays as they can i think from like a strategic standpoint but yeah Jalen Jalen Carter was coming back from his non-displaced fracture I think some other people are just dealing with soft tissue type injuries which which happen in football I mean you know these guys train and train and prepare and I mean they are so meticulous of how their body not only works out but how it rests and they're coming back from a long game yeah I mean yeah there were a lot of kind of soft tissue type injuries and you know when it comes things like the hamstring and that hamstring is so important to these football players and that could be the difference between a like a catch and a tackle or you know making the play or not making the play they're just so fast and they're so strong and um that's why we love watching the birds yeah that was the injury for Saquon that is the injury for Saquon hamstring and also for DeVonta Smith something about hamstrings and our running backs you also specialize in prevention medicine if you were part of the training staff how would you treat this team would you have them all go to ballet or yoga oh ballet they are some of the strongest athletes i've ever seen i had the opportunity to work with the Pittsburgh Ballet it was impressive how high they could jump um i don't know maybe maybe that would be a decent one but you know their their strength and condition is impeccable their load management is impeccable it's just they're playing a game where they're running at each other at full speed they're getting hit at full speed they're they're asking their body to do these superhuman things um i mean injuries happen that's that's why we talk we're talking about this um i mean you know sometimes you you just get lucky and it's unlucky and i just think unfortunately this is a unlucky season um for the for the for the Eagles thus far but it's not over so we'll stay positive you know we're trying to stay positive, Dr. Schreider. Same. Finally, you know, I know you're not a sports psychologist here, but is there such a thing as contagious injuries on sports teams? Contagious injuries on sports teams? The chance for more injuries when players see their injured teammates? No, I don't think so. Have you ever heard of such a thing? No, I think these guys just want to compete so much. And, you know, there are guys that, you know, even on the practice squad that of phenomenal athletes and you know there's you know i think you realize how good a Jalen Hurts and a Saquon Barkley are when even you know their backups are are are struggling and you know these guys are just they're they're trying to compete i know they are and you know this is their job this is their livelihood this is what they've been thinking about like playing in the backyard playing you know Friday Night Lights playing in college um i i mean i think i i always say honestly as as a sports medicine physician sometimes the hardest thing is to tell an athlete that they cannot play and when it's not safe and that's where you have to say hey i'm looking out for you for the next six games as opposed to the next six minutes you know and or i'm looking out for you for the next six games and also the next 16 to 20 years of your life to make sure that you you stay healthy and you're part you know part of the community um but yeah these these they just want to compete and yeah they're doing a good job they're they you know a couple couple plays go their way they have that they have that game yeah you know i'm in no way saying that players are making up injuries but there are some studies about the chances of getting injured are perhaps heightened even more because other players are falling and you know and being injured. I guess less on your guard and more prone to injuries when other players around you are being injured. There's also, you know, and the quarterback of the Cowboys we hear in Philadelphia, I hate to even mention him, but he had some sort of speech to his team about if something is wrong to say something right away. And so, yeah, these guys want to play, but some don't say what's going on right away either because they want to stay in the game. Yeah, I say it's creating a community, creating a brand, a trust in the athletic training staff, trust in the coaches. It has to be a team effort. And when you have an injury, getting to know the players is incredibly important. You don't just want to be some person that they don't want to talk to and and a lot of it comes down to the coaches comes down to the athletic trainers on there to to know them as as people and to to build that trust and I I think that's what they're saying um there in Dallas and you know that's a big one with um with like concussion management because sometimes those concussion system symptoms can be very very subtle and you know seeing those subtle changes can sometimes uh help help the athlete but no Shiva you bring you bring up a great point yeah all right dr ryan schreider with temple health we appreciate your time again on a sunday we'll still say go birds right go birds all right thank you we'll be back