USA Today: Gronkowski Dealing With Back Issue, Could Face (Another) Surgery

Even more discomforting injury news coming out of Foxboro, as it now appears that Rob Gronkowski will also need back surgery. This according to Mike Garafolo of USA Today. Garafolo wrote this about the Patriots' All-Pro tight end:

The New England Patriots tight end recently underwent an MRI on his back to check on a disk issue he had dating back to last season, a person informed of Gronkowski's medical status told USA TODAY Sports.

The person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the Patriots' policy of not publicly detailing injuries, said the issue was with a different disk than the one that needed to be shaved down in surgery in 2009 and a final decision on whether surgery would be required had not been made. The person said Gronkowski would see spine specialist Robert Watkins in the near future, after next week's surgery to install a new plate into his forearm.

The person said the hope was, if surgery on his back was required, Gronkowski would be back within the same time frame as his recovery from the arm injury, which he initially suffered in November but has been prolonged because of an infection in the limb.

If you have just hit your head against a book, started panicing profusely, or even googled "Alge Crumpler" to see if he's still able to suit up, I have news that will hopefully calm your mood. This coming from the ever dependable, Adam Schefter:

Rob Gronkowski's back issue considered minor, per source. If he needs surgery it'd be during time frame that he'd be out with arm surgery.

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) May 17, 2013

Quote from person close to Gronk: "He is going to be fine long term. (He is) not worried about the short term, I.e. start of training camp."

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) May 17, 2013

I'm going to put my trust in Schefter, and try and not worry about Gronkowski, who could have surgery on both his forearm and back. The fact that the team isn't apparently worried about him, and that he's hopeful about his recovery puts me at ease as well.

The recovery time for both procedures will overlap, and it will likely still put him in line to return to training camp. Again, this doesn't mean he'll be ready for camp, just be ready around the time of camp. It's worth noting that back issues is what made Gronkowski slip so far during the 2010 NFL Draft, and allowed him to be essentially stolen by the Pats in the second round

With Gronkowski set for forearm surgery on Monday, and now back surgery sometime in the near future, he's going to have the quite the next few months trying to rehab. I'm hopeful that he'll prioritize and maybe not party so much and put himself at risk even further than he already is putting himself.

In only three seasons, Gronk has had issues with his ankle, forearm and now his back. Anyone else worried about his increasingly fragile body?