MINNEAPOLIS — Big news in the world of sports this weekend, Andrew Luck is retiring.
At just 29 years old, the Colts quarterback was on the path to becoming one of the all-time greats, but nagging injuries took their toll on his body and mind.
Many fans, commentators and players are already calling him out, questioning his toughness.
On the other side, sports medicine doctors understand all too well the pain Luck has gone through to heal and recover from multiple catastrophic injuries.
"It seems like they all wore him down, just an accumulation of all those things,” Fairview Health sports medicine specialist Dr. Grant Morrison says.
Morrison treats athletes like Luck all the time and understands the mental and physical toughness it takes to recover from an injury.
"The pain, it's like a chronic illness, like diabetes, or cancer, you never feel normal. You never feel healthy and he just wanted to walk away from all that," Morrison says.
Recovering from just one injury is difficult enough, Morrison says.
Luck experienced not just one injury over his career, but according to sports media outlets, he experienced at least seven injuries in the last five seasons.
Luck’s injuries include a lacerated kidney, a concussion, at least two torn muscles, and other injuries to his calf and ankle.
And besides the physical injuries, Morrison says the mental injuries are often just as difficult to recover from.
"It’s a lot of grinding effort, day in, day out, to try and feel normal again and to get themselves back in that frame of mind to go back to the same thing that got them hurt in the first place.”
Morrison understands the frustration sports fans feel losing a favorite player and a generational talent, but at the end of the day, it’s his decision, his body, and he gets the right to decide what to do with it.
"I think we need to take a step back and not be worried about our fantasy football teams and let him make his own decision on his own comfort level.”