The Iowa Clinic’s Doc Spot: Oklahoma State injury report

By Chris Williams, CycloneFanatic.com Publisher

The Cyclones should be a fairly healthy football team heading into tonight’s contest with Oklahoma State, being that Iowa State had a bye last weekend. We did have one big question for our experts at the Iowa Clinic this week and that had to do with the health of guard Ethan Tuftee, who had his knee scoped during the open week.

Q: Iowa State offensive guard Ethan Tuftee reportedly tore a meniscus in Iowa State’s win over Kansas. During his press conference on Monday, Paul Rhoads said that Tuftee had his knee scoped last week and should be good to go on Friday night vs. Oklahoma State. Can you elaborate on the severity of this injury and approximately what percent Tuftee will be playing at this weekend?

Nicholas Honkamp, MD, Des Moines Orthopaedic Surgeons says: Meniscus tears are all about size and location. The posterior or back part of the meniscus is the most important part, and bigger tears are worse injuries. If he is playing at 1 week after surgery, chances are it was a smaller tear that was removed arthroscopically. If his swelling is minimal (and subsequent pain), he may be anywhere from 50-100 percent effective.

*** I wanted to ask a follow up question about the health of free safety Jacques Washington but due to the lack of information that I have about his injury, I didn’t think it would be responsible to do so.