Originally Posted by WFAA – Ch 8 in Dallas: Original Article
As the Cowboy’s season came to an end Sunday against the Eagles, the team’s starting quarterback Tony Romo was off the field recovering from his lower back surgery.
Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett publicly stated Friday morning,
“Tony Romo underwent back surgery this morning, and the surgery was a result of what happened in the game against Washington,” Garrett said at Friday morning’s press conference.
“As we discussed it, as the day wore on, we thought this was the best decision for him and for our organization moving forward, and we felt like it was better do to the procedure sooner rather than later,” he said.
Many reports are that Tony Romo’s injury was most likely a herniated disk.
“The fact that he had his injury on Sunday and is having surgery just less than a week later tells me it was a pretty severe herniation,” said Dr. Rey Bosita, Orthopedic Spine Surgeon at Texas Back Institute. While Dr. Bosita is not Romo’s treating surgeon he does successfully treat his patients suffering from herniated discs and other debilitating spine conditions daily.
“He probably had either a lot of pain or a lot of weakness that forced the doctors to act that quickly,” Dr. Bosita said.
As for Romo’s surgery Friday morning? It likely a micro-discectomy which typically take 30 minutes to an hour-and-a-half, depending on the severity.
Romo was expected to be home recovering by Friday night, which Bosita said is typical.
“Physical therapy will start within two weeks after surgery and usually full recovery is six-to-eight weeks after the surgery is done,” the doctor said. “So for all the cowboys fans that are thinking about next season, he should be pretty fully recovered well before training camp starts.”
Kyle Orton started as quarterback Sunday night as the Cowboys took on the Philadelphia Eagles in the last game of their 2013 season.