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What’s Going On with Haloti Ngata?

By Al Stahl

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On August 3rd, back before training camp started, before the Ameer Abdullah #HypeTrain left the station, and before everyone fell in love with Zach Zenner, it was reported that Haloti Ngata had a non-football injury in the form of a strained hamstring and was expected to miss “about a week”.

It’s now the 4th week Ngata has been sidelined and I wanted to cover the recovery window for hamstring strains and what that means going forward. When it comes to hamstring strains there are three grades of increasing severity and it’s important to note that everybody heals at a different rate.

A Grade 1 strain is when the muscles of the hamstring are overstretched but not torn. There can be bruising with a Grade 1 strain, but recovery is usually about a week, sometimes longer. It would seem that early reports assumed Ngata’s injury to be a Grade 1 strain, whether there was any merit to that assumption or not.

A Grade 2 strain involves a partial tear of the hamstring’s muscle fibers. There is usually a specific event that the injured person can reference regarding the injury and there is usually swelling and tenderness in the hamstring. This injury usually has a 2-3 week recovery window followed by physical therapy.

A Grade 3 strain is like a Grade 2 strain but with more pronounced pain and swelling. In order for a hamstring strain to fully heal, it may take 4-6 weeks.

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Credit: Mitch Stringer-USA TODAY Sports

Regardless of the grade of the strain, the general recovery involves about one week of RICEing the injury (rest, ice, compression, elevation) followed by 2-3 weeks of physical therapy involving light stretching, electrical stimulation or muscle ultrasounds to increase blood flow to the hamstring. That is followed by making sure the muscle is built up to full strength. The Grade of the strain, the physical therapy, and the person combine to determine just how much time is required to recover in each of the phases just mentioned.

Since Ngata has now been on the NFI list three weeks and counting, it’s safe to assume he did not suffer a Grade 1 strain. Assuming the timelines outlined in this article apply to the general population, I’m prone to think that a professional athlete working daily with physical therapists and team doctors should at least fit within these windows provided there are no setbacks.

This means that the worst case scenario, barring any setbacks, is that Ngata will just miss Week 1 by a couple days. Best case scenario should see him take the field after this week. Considering Ngata is supposed to be a linchpin on this defense, it’s probably safe to assume the Lions are willing to take their time with him to make sure there are no setbacks that could jeopardize his status for the season’s long haul.

What complicates this issue is Caraun Reid’s high ankle sprain. High ankle sprains generally require 4-6 weeks of recovery which means there’s a very good chance Reid won’t be ready week 1. I doubt the Lions are willing to risk Ngata’s longterm health this season over one game, so if he’s not back 100% after the preseason, the Lions will be going into Week 1 with Tyrunn Walker, Gabe Wright and Jermelle Cudjo at DT, unless they want to use Jason Jones as the third rotational DT.

Take it as a good sign if Ngata starts doing light work in practice after this week. If he’s not at least doing something on the field in a helmet next week, there’s a distinct chance he misses Week 1, possibly as a game time decision.

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