San Francisco 49ers pass rusher Dee Ford missed most of training camp after receiving platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections in his knee to deal with some tendinitis. Actually, the issue had developed into tendinosis, which is the chronic variety of the condition.
Ford is feeling well enough to play and will do so on Sunday when the 49ers travel to Tampa, Florida for their regular-season opener against the Buccaneers. He missed the entire preseason as he recovered from the procedure and started practicing again last week.
Ford believes the PRP procedure was "very, very, very, very, very" effective, but it's not just a matter of a simple injection into the problem area. The pass rusher joined the "Here's the Catch" podcast this week and explained what he went through.
"So basically they take blood from a different part of your body — they did my arm — and they inject it in where the pain is," Ford told The Athletic's David Lombardi and Dennis Brown. "It's very complicated. They get really, really deep [...] I was awake. I wanted to be put to sleep, though. I was awake.
"The needle was this long. You could see it on an ultrasound. You can see how deep (it goes). [...] They put fresh blood into that body part. I couldn't do anything for about two weeks. I couldn't do it if I wanted to. I was sore. Some people don't get sore. I was sore.
"I couldn't bend my knee for like three days. I could barely walk the first day. Some guys are different, though. Some guys are walking around; they're cool."
The 49ers know how important Ford is for the upcoming season and the future of the defense. The team wanted to take care of the issue now rather than wait until it became a more significant problem.
"You can give a day or two off, but that's really not going to eliminate (it)," general manager John Lynch said on August 8. "We wanted that gone before the season."
The coaches started easing Ford back into everything in Denver as the team prepared for its second preseason game, a matchup against the Broncos. That's when Ford says he started running.
"Then, all of a sudden, the things that gave me problems before, it's like gone," Ford said.
The 49ers hope the treatment is enough to help Ford play effectively throughout the season. The pass rusher believes his new team did the right thing addressing the issue now because it could have been a significant in-season issue had they postponed treatment.
If the issue comes back, though, or if the 49ers decide to address the problem further after the season, it will mean more treatments for Ford or possibly an exploration of other options. Ford didn't want to undergo arthroscopic surgery on his knee because it would have meant missing over a month.
"It will never be 100 percent," Ford shared while opting not to estimate a percentage himself. "It's enough. It's enough. I wouldn't step on the field if I wasn't ready."