Select Steelers bracing for Week 2
Willie Colon will wear two. Marcus Gilbert one. Max Starks none.
Despite Steelers linemen injuring their knees at an alarming rate during the past year, including the loss of promising No. 1 draft pick David DeCastro during the preseason, there is a split decision among players — and teams — whether wearing a knee brace will protect their livelihood and possibly prolong their careers.
There is even some dispute among the medical community how much a knee brace matters.
Colon isn't taking chances. He will wear braces on both knees Sunday against the N.Y. Jets at Heinz Field.
Gilbert, who sat out the second half against Denver last week with a sprained knee after defensive lineman Derek Wolfe rolled up on him, will wear one on his injured left knee.
Starks, despite having a $1,000 custom-made brace, has opted not to protect the surgically repaired knee in which he tore his ACL about seven months ago.
“It was more of a nuisance than being a good thing,” Starks said.
Gilbert's device is a less restrictive and less protective neoprene version of what Starks has.
“Things are going to happen, and you have no control over what happens,” Gilbert said. “What happened to me was unfortunate, but the way I look at it is, if you get hurt, you get hurt.”
Colon decided to brace both knees this season as a preventative measure, especially after moving to guard, where there is a greater chance of getting rolled up on like DeCastro last month and Gilbert last week.
“I am tired of getting hurt,” said Colon, who missed all but one game the past two years because of non-knee related injuries. “I am just being safe about it. Whatever it takes to stay on the field is what I am going to do. If that is wearing a knee brace, then so be it.”
Still, Colon doesn't wear the braces during practices.
DeCastro, who was on pace to start at right guard, collapsed on the turf at Ralph Wilson Stadium during the Steelers' preseason game at Buffalo, his right knee having buckled beneath him, his medial collateral ligament torn and his knee cap dislocated.
He and Gilbert are the latest Steelers linemen to endure a knee injury, joining Starks, Mike Adams and the since-released Chris Kemoeatu and Jonathan Scott.
Perhaps not coincidentally, the Steelers have struggled protecting quarterback Ben Roethlisberger — the team allowed 42 sacks last season — and ranked just 14th in rushing.
None was wearing prophylactic, or preventative, knee braces when he was injured. All missed playing time.
“That is the O-line mentality right there,” guard Ramon Foster said. “If you get hurt, you are like: ‘Darn, I wish I had a knee brace on.'”
Do braces work?
Joe Namath was the first to wear a knee brace in 1969, and the popularity of the devices took off after that. They were initially marketed for use by athletes with knee-joint instability who participated in activities that required rapid direction changes. Now they are used for stability and prevention.
But there is uncertainty over how much wearing a brace can prevent injury.
According to Dr. David Geier, orthopedic surgeon and director of the sports medicine program at the Medical University of South Carolina, there are no tangible studies that can prove, or disprove, that knee braces prevent injuries.
“If you read the studies, the data is not terribly convincing,” Geier said. “They have shown a slight decreased chance of an MCL injury, and there are thoughts of a trend in decreasing ACL tears even though that hasn't been definitively proven. We know that you can still tear your ACL by wearing a brace.”
In 1984, the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons (AAOS) categorized knee braces three ways: Prophylactic: devices designed to prevent or reduce the severity of injuries; rehabilitative: devices aimed to limit motion of injured knees or knees following surgical treatment; and functional: appliances designed to provide stability.
Prophylactic braces prevent knees from being displaced side-to-side but do little to stop hyperextension injuries that are consistent with ACL injuries.
“Many athletes wear them as a means to help prevent or reduce the incident of injury. However, there is little to no research proving it works or does not work,” said Kathleen Nachazel, a senior manager of UPMC Sports Medicine Athletic Training and Development.
The AAOS position statement on prophylactic bracing doesn't support a lower risk of injury, saying that it “may provide limited protection against injuries to the MCL in football players, (but) scientific studies have not demonstrated similar protection to other knee ligaments, menisci, or articular cartilage.”
The position statement since has been retired by the AAOS.
Veteran Pitt football athletic trainer and clinical instructor Rob Blanc said he believes braces work to some degree.
“I have seen braces actually bend with no injury to the athlete,” said Blanc, who is in his 23rd year at Pitt. “The brace acts as a splint and helps to absorb the force of the blow. Obviously they can't prevent every injury, but they can lessen the severity of the injury.”
Even so, Pouncey, for one, values mobility more than the off-chance a knee brace could prevent an injury.
“It kind of slows you down and takes some of your athletic ability away,” Steelers Pro Bowl center Maurkice Pouncey said. “It kind of protects you a little bit, but I don't want to wear them again.
“Injuries are going to happen anyways, regardless of braces.”
No choice
Offensive linemen are more susceptible to knee injuries than another position because of the nature of their job. They rely on their legs to get leverage in blocking defenders, and there's a greater potential for them, more than any other position, to have their knees rolled up on.
Still, the majority of linemen in the league tend to shy away from knee braces, even if they could potentially save them from season-ending and career-threatening injuries.
“Why do some people not wear seatbelts? Why don't people wear motorcycle helmets all of the time?” Starks said. “It is just a matter of choice, just like anything else.”
It's not a matter of choice in Buffalo, and it wasn't like that in Dallas when Bill Parcells was coach.
While coaching the Cowboys, Parcells made it mandatory for his linemen to wear knee braces. He carried that to Miami a few years later when he was the organization's executive vice president.
Current Buffalo coach Chan Gailey requires offensive linemen to brace each knee during practice, but he doesn't carry that mandate over to games. Center Eric Wood is the only Buffalo lineman to wear braces during games, and he is less than a year removed from ACL surgery.
College yes, pros no
Pouncey was forced to wear braces on both knees during his three years at Florida. So did all four of his starting linemates.
The NCAA does not have a rule mandating knee brace use, but that hasn't prevented nearly every major college football program from requiring offensive linemen to wear metal hinged-style knee braces during practices and games.
Pitt, Penn State, West Virginia, Florida, Notre Dame, Southern Cal, Ohio State, Tennessee and Michigan are just a few of the programs that require offensive linemen to wear knee braces.
“That's non-negotiable,” West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen said.
Everywhere Holgorsen has been — Texas Tech, Houston, Oklahoma State, West Virginia — knee braces have been mandatory for offensive linemen.
“O-linemen aren't the most fluid people,” Holgorsen said. “It doesn't restrict their mobility because everything is pretty tight. And it doesn't affect them when they're going backwards to be able to pass protect. We feel like it's important for them to wear them, and they do.”
Michigan requires braces in practice but leaves the decision to the players for games.
“Most of them do (wear them) because of they get used to the braces. They continue with it during the games,” Michigan coach Brady Hoke said.
Steelers offensive line coach Sean Kugler, who lettered four years on the offensive line at UTEP in the 1980s, wouldn't be opposed if the NFL required offensive linemen to wear knee braces.
“But these guys are grown men,” Kugler said. “If they want to wear them, they can wear them. If they don't, they know the risk.”
Staff writers Jerry DiPaola, John Harris and Scott Brown contributed. Mark Kaboly is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at mkaboly@tribweb.com.
