Joe Montana: 'I can't really run or do much'

soxhop411

news aggravator
SoSH Member
Dec 4, 2009
46,278
SAN FRANCISCO — On Sunday, Joe Montana will handle the coin toss at Super Bowl 50. It’s one of the things he can do without feeling pain, which is the daily cost of his Hall of Fame football career.

In an interview with USA TODAY Sports, Montana detailed the extensive physical problems suffers from more than two decades after he ended his NFL career in 1994.

“The mental part was hard initially when I first retired,’’ said Montana, 59, who won four Super Bowls as quarterback of the San Francisco 49ers. “Because it’s quick - cold turkey, the game’s gone. Then the physical stuff tries to catch up with you.’’

To hear it from Montana, it sounds like he has spent as much time in an orthopedist’s office than he did on the football field. Start with his arthritis, which is in one of his elbows, his knees and his hands.

“My hands have been, oh my gosh, in the middle of the night they hurt like crazy,’’ Montana said.

Then there’s the balky knee he can’t straighten despite a half-dozen surgeries.

“They kept saying I’ll need a knee replacement when I can’t walk,’’ he said. “I can’t really run or do much with it.’’
Recently, Montana said, he had elbow surgery and now he’s got problems in his neck. To date, he’s had three neck fusions.

“I think I’m headed down the fusion thing again,’’ Montana said. “… The path of a nerve they think is being affected.’’

There’s more nerve damage in one of his eyes.
“It acts like a lazy eye to some degree because every time you’re tired, it kind of goes wherever it feels like a little bit,’’ Montana said. “Not dramatic but just enough where you can’t read or you have to refocus.’’

A doctor said the nerve damage resulted from head trauma, according to Montana.

“Can’t figure out where that came from,’’ Montana deadpanned, assuming that the host of physical problems resulted from the pounding he took during his football career.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/2016/02/04/joe-montana-pain-physical-ailment/79852754/

more at the link...
 

EricFeczko

Member
SoSH Member
Apr 26, 2014
4,824
I'm sure he's got people to help with that.
I'm not sure if the first post belongs in the head trauma thread, or at least referenced there.