Hold your breath, San Francisco.
Fueled by a recent visit to a specialist in Germany, the Christian McCaffrey injury rumor mill has been set aflame: the star running back could be out for another couple of months.
49ers coach Kyle Shanahan sought to douse the inferno during his weekly appearance on KNBR radio on Thursday.
“I think we’ll get a better idea here over the next couple of weeks,” Shanahan said of his star running back. “Christian’s just seeing every specialist he can, doing all the little stuff that Christian does more than anybody I’ve ever been around.”
McCaffrey, who landed on injured reserve with calf tightness and Achilles tendinitis on Sept. 14, is yet to suit up for the 49ers this season.
Shanahan’s comments on KNBR coincided with a worrying report out of the San Francisco Chronicle on Thursday, which theorized that McCaffrey could “be sidelined for at least a month and ‘probably closer to a couple of months.’”
Speaking to the Chronicle for the piece was Dr. Kenton Fibel, medical director of the NHL’s Anaheim Ducks and an expert in Achilles tendinitis injuries.
Fibel is a specialist in orthobiologics, or regenerative medicine; it’s a relatively new field that offers non-surgical approaches towards treating muscle, joint and soft tissue injuries with natural or biological injections, like stem cells and platelet-rich plasma.
In Germany, doctors can perform orthobiologic treatments that have not been approved in the United States — the like of Kobe Bryant, Alex Rodriguez and Peyton Manning all traveled to Germany for orthobiologic treatment during their careers.
According to Fibel, McCaffrey’s visit to a German specialist suggests that his injury could be more serious than the 49ers are letting on.
The doctor posited that if McCaffrey sustained microscopic tears to the achilles tendon, the injury won’t resolve with just a few weeks of rest.
If he had an orthobiologic procedure, McCaffrey is likely to be out for months.
“This may be something where you realize the pathology is a little bit more serious and reserve a way to allow him to return this season, even if it does take a month or two with him needing a longer recovery,” Fibel said.
Shanahan said on KNBR that McCaffrey hasn’t been pushing too hard in rehab, but that “we’ll probably turn it up here in the next couple of weeks … we’ll start testing that out sooner than later.”
Jordan Mason has filled in well in McCaffrey’s absence; he’ll be counted on once again as the 49ers look to end a two-game skid against the Patriots in Week 4 before the flames in San Francisco grow any higher.
