PITTSBURGH — Steelers star T.J. Watt, one of many highest-paid edge rushers within the NFL and the 2021 AP Defensive Participant of the Yr, suffered a partially collapsed lung during a Wednesday dry needling treatment on the workforce facility, prompting questions concerning the occasions that led to the incident and what is going to occur subsequent.
J.J. Watt, T.J.’s brother, mentioned in a social media statement Friday that T.J. had surgical procedure Thursday to restore and stabilize his lung and was launched from the hospital Friday.
“Yesterday TJ had profitable surgical procedure to stabilize and restore {a partially} collapsed lung suffered Wednesday after a dry needling therapy session on the facility,” J.J. Watt wrote on social media. “Restoration timeline continues to be TBD, however all went effectively and he’s being launched from the hospital in the present day. He and his household are very appreciative of everybody’s sort phrases and effectively needs.”
T.J. Watt, 31, is not going to play in Monday’s house prime-time matchup in opposition to the Miami Dolphins (8:15 ET, ESPN), Steelers coach Mike Tomlin mentioned, as Pittsburgh seeks to bolster its AFC North lead over the Baltimore Ravens.
The Steelers have not offered many particulars surrounding the incident. The preliminary assertion launched by Pittsburgh spokesperson Burt Lauten on Thursday mentioned Watt went to the hospital for additional analysis of his lung after experiencing “discomfort” on the observe facility Wednesday. After Friday’s observe, Tomlin mentioned Watt had a “medical process in the present day or yesterday.” And when requested if the incident that led to Watt’s hospitalization occurred throughout a dry needling session, as J.J. Watt mentioned, Tomlin continued to be imprecise.
“I haven’t got a variety of info, so I am definitely not going to dispute one thing that is mentioned by somebody near him,” Tomlin mentioned. “I hadn’t had discussions alongside these traces.”
The NFL Gamers Affiliation is conscious of the state of affairs and has been in contact with Watt and his illustration. “Our foremost rapid precedence is supporting T.J.’s well being and full restoration,” the NFLPA mentioned in an announcement.
Dry needling is not uncommon throughout an NFL participant’s bodily remedy, however a big incident like that is unusual.
Did Watt have an harm earlier than the therapy? What’s dry needling? Is Watt’s state of affairs just like then-Chargers quarterback Tyrod Taylor’s state of affairs in 2020, when he suffered a punctured lung? How will Pittsburgh’s protection step up because the workforce chases a divisional title? Steelers reporter Brooke Pryor and ESPN senior author and harm analyst Stephania Bell break down the largest questions.
Did Watt have a chest or again harm earlier than the dry needling?
Watt has not been listed on the workforce observe or harm report this season. Tomlin additionally mentioned Thursday that, to his data, Watt did not have an harm that was worthy of being on an harm report or after the Steelers’ Week 14 sport.
Watt was on the observe report due to a toe harm in the course of the week main as much as the sport at Baltimore, and earlier within the season, he was listed on the observe report due to a hip difficulty main as much as the Week 8 house sport in opposition to the Green Bay Packers. Dry needling is not essentially related as a therapy for a selected harm, and it may be used to alleviate normal muscle tightness, together with across the shoulders, and in some instances, the pectoral muscular tissues. — Pryor
What’s dry needling? What’s required to legally administer dry needling? How protected is it?
Dry needling is a talented intervention the place the supplier makes use of a skinny needle to penetrate the pores and skin with the purpose of assuaging ache and enhancing motion. In contrast to “moist” needling, which makes use of a hole bore needle (which has a central channel to permit liquid to move by way of it) to inject a medicine, dry needling makes use of a strong needle and no substance is injected.
Widespread functions for dry needling embrace, however aren’t restricted to, muscle ache/strains (e.g., hamstring, quad), tendinitis/tendinopathy (e.g., patellofemoral, biceps, rotator cuff), plantar fasciitis and complications. Utilization has expanded throughout the previous decade, particularly, and it’s not unusual to see dry needling in place in most athletic rehabilitation settings or coaching rooms.
Necessities range by state as to who could legally carry out dry needling. The vary of practitioners participating in dry needling could embrace bodily therapists, athletic trainers, acupuncturists, chiropractors, physicians, doctor assistants, nurses and nurse practitioners.
Well being care professionals usually endure post-graduate schooling particular to dry needling procedures. The necessities range by state as to requisite hours of coaching as there isn’t a nationally acknowledged board that oversees dry needling certification. Applications require completion of didactic and sensible parts, and contributors should move written and sensible exams that incorporate security elements.
Dr. Sue Falsone, president and founding father of Construction and Perform Training, is a bodily therapist, athletic coach and licensed energy and conditioning specialist who has over 15 years of expertise working towards and educating dry needling. She has handled and consulted with quite a few elite athletes, together with NFL and MLB gamers, and says there are quite a few security research which have been revealed exhibiting very low danger with dry needling.
“Precautions and affected person security are at all times part of any affected person intervention,” Falsone mentioned, “however as with all modality, there’s a probability for an adversarial response.”
Falsone famous that the 4 commonest adversarial reactions persistently documented within the scientific literature are comparatively benign. They embrace bleeding (famous as a drop or two of blood on the needle website), localized bruising, ache or residual soreness on the needle website and ache or soreness away from the location.
“Pneumothorax [punctured lung] is reported within the literature as a really uncommon occasion,” Falsone mentioned. — Bell
What number of different Steelers do dry needling?
It is laborious to say what number of Steelers gamers search dry needling to deal with tight muscular tissues and soreness in the course of the season, however former linebacker James Harrison advised ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler in 2015 that “three to 5” different gamers within the locker room had been additionally doing dry needling.
“It is a extra invasive type of needling,” Harrison mentioned then. “It may be recovery-based and assist to heal any accidents which are nagging. … It is painful as hell.”
Steelers inside linebacker Patrick Queen mentioned Friday that he prefers to make use of acupuncture over dry needling.
“Type of two various things.” Queen mentioned. “… I do not do the entire dry needle factor. I am truly frightened of dry needling, so I type of avoid that stuff.
“It’s unlucky. You may most likely get dry needled a thousand occasions and by no means have something occur, and it simply most likely a half an inch within the incorrect course. So, you by no means know.”
Queen added that he has at all times been cautious about whom he permits to make use of needles on him in therapy.
“Clearly, it is needles, then you definately want ’em in the suitable spot and stuff, and so they may go within the incorrect spot at any time,” he mentioned. — Pryor
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T.J. Watt within the hospital for lung analysis
Ryan Clark and Wealthy Eisen react to T.J. Watt having his lung evaluated within the hospital after experiencing discomfort on the Steelers’ observe facility on Wednesday.
What needs to be the everyday prognosis for Watt? Will there be any long-term results?
Probably the most important facet of Watt’s case is that when he reported signs and was evaluated, he was despatched to the hospital for care emergently and handled promptly by the suitable personnel. This offers him a great opportunity of full restoration.
Lung tissue is remarkably resilient, particularly in a younger, wholesome athlete. A lung harm like Watt’s has the potential to heal inside 7-10 days and there needs to be no long-term results. — Bell
Is that this just like the Tyrod Taylor state of affairs; what are the variations?
Taylor was reportedly coping with two cracked ribs and acquired a pregame pain-relieving injection, the intent of which was to lower localized ache and permit him to compete on gameday. The needle punctured a lung and the consequence was a pneumothorax (the place air leaks into the house between the lung and the chest wall, placing stress on or “collapsing” the lung).
In Watt’s state of affairs, in accordance with his brother JJ, he suffered {a partially} collapsed lung (additionally a pneumothorax) after a dry needling therapy session. By definition, dry needling means no medicine was being delivered through the needle making this totally different than Taylor’s particular process.
Whereas we would not have entry to the specifics of both participant’s medical data, it’s price noting that each participant’s harm severity and restoration expertise is exclusive, even within the presence of the identical analysis. We do know that Taylor has since gone on to return to soccer on the NFL degree and anticipate Watt to do the identical. — Bell
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What does Watt’s absence imply for the Steelers’ protection of their quest to win the AFC North?
There is not any agency timeline on Watt’s return, and that is a big hit for a workforce that has a slim lead over the Ravens for the AFC North and a coveted playoff spot with 4 regular-season video games remaining.
The Steelers are 1-11 all time, together with playoffs, when Watt would not play. Watt final missed a sport within the 2023 playoffs when he was sidelined with an MCL sprain for the wild-card loss to the Buffalo Bills in January 2024.
This time round with out Watt, the Steelers will depend on a rotation of Alex Highsmith, Nick Herbig and rookie Jack Sawyer. Highsmith, who has dealt together with his personal share of accidents all through this season, sealed the win in opposition to the Ravens with a walk-off sack of Lamar Jackson.
“That is a transparent illustration of who he’s, the kind of performs he offers, the kind of splash he makes, sport on the road, he’ll go make a play for us,” Herbig mentioned of Highsmith. “That is who Alex is. That is who he is been his entire profession.”
Herbig can also be one other younger participant on the rise. The 2023 fourth-round choose recorded two sacks the final time he confronted a left-handed quarterback in Cleveland’s Dillion Gabriel; he had two tackles for loss and 4 quarterback hits. Herbig faces Miami’s left-handed QB Tua Tagovailoa on Monday.
“T.J.’s carried out an incredible job of being a pacesetter, not simply within the room, however in the entire constructing, the group,” Herbig mentioned. “I believe he rubs off on lots of people in the suitable method, and I am not apprehensive in any respect as a result of we’ve nice guys, nice leaders that’ll choose up that slack, and I believe that he is ready, not simply myself, however a bunch of the youthful guys in that sense to have the ability to tackle that bigger position, not simply as a participant however as a pacesetter and bringing that vitality and simply doing all the things that he does.” — Pryor
