Breaking Down Tony Romo’s Back Injury, Recovery Timeline from a Herniated Disc

Seemingly out of nowhere, Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo may miss the rest of the 2013 season due to a back injury known as a herniated intervertebral disc.

ESPN's Adam Schefter broke the news first. His colleague Chris Mortensen soon provided more details:

Herniated lumbar discs are a relatively common injury throughout the NFLand life in general.In fact, low back painwith or without herniationrepresents one of the most frequent of all chief complaints at doctors' offices.

Unfortunately, Romo's came at one of the most inopportune times imaginable.

Furthermore, the entire story still remains unclearat least partially. According to Pro Football Talk's Curtis Crabtree, neither owner Jerry Jones nor head coach Jason Garrett are throwing in the towel:

Perhaps the injury is not as severe, after all.

Or perhaps Jones and Garrett are merely posturing leading up to the Week 17 matchup with the PhiladelphiaEaglesa game that will decide the NFC East champion.

To attempt to make sense of what's going onand what's notit helps to take a look at the injury itself.

What Are Intervertebral Discs?

See original here:
Breaking Down Tony Romo's Back Injury, Recovery Timeline from a Herniated Disc