Pro Bowl Tight End Todd Heap is Back on the Field & Injury Free

Baltimore Ravens Tight End Todd Heap sustained a devastating back injury before last year’s playoffs, so he came to Fischer Sports to get him back on the field in time for this season:

This was Heap’s January reality: paralyzing back pain, sleepless nights and endless painkillers to get him through the days and the nights and the games.

This was Heap’s reality last Sunday: pain-free, romping through the Kansas City Chiefs’ secondary for five catches and one big touchdown, while a repeated chorus of “HEAP” rolled through the stadium.

“It was probably the worst pain I’ve played through in my football career,” Heap said this week of last January’s playoff run. “And I’ve played with a torn ligament in my ankle, a torn labrum in my shoulder. I pretty much took whatever I needed to, to play in the game.”

The injury, which occurred in practice before the wild-card playoff game, was characterized as a lower back sprain. But it took more than three months before Heap could regain anything close to normal movement or be able to stand for as long as 10 minutes without pain.

When it refused to go away, Heap thought he might be looking at the end of his career.

“For me last year, I really had to look inside and say, ‘How’s my body, can I do this? Do I still want to put my body through that?’ It didn’t take long for me to say definitely it’s all worth it to me, or definitely I’m going to give it everything I’ve got to get back on the field because of my love for this game,” he said.

What eventually got Heap over the hump was his work at a physical therapy and conditioning center, run by Brett Fischer, near the Phoenix, Ariz., airport. Progress was slow, but steady.

He missed the majority of the team’s offseason workouts but found his legs by training camp. The more he worked in camp, the better he felt.

The results on opening day were eye-opening. Heap was back; maybe not back to his Pro Bowl form, but close enough.

Read the full story at The Baltimore Sun. Photo by Lloyd Knox for The Baltimore Sun.