Chicago Bears: What does back surgery mean for Teven Jenkins?

When can the Chicago Bears expect Teven Jenkins to return?

Let me point out once again, I am not a medical professional. However, I turned to the trusty WebMD to see if I could find out any information about Jenkins’ upcoming back surgery. Dr. Morse’s comment about surgery not being ideal had me concerned and I wanted to see what could be done about it.

Let me start out by saying, there are way more types of back surgeries than I anticipated. Six separate types stood out to me on one WebMD post.

From my limited amount of research, it appears the most common back surgery associated with this type of pain is a laminectomy. A surgeon goes in and removes parts of the bone, bone spurs or ligaments in your back. This relieves pressure and pain on the nerves in the back. The downfall is that it could make the spine less stable and a spinal fusion could also be required.

Is this what Teven Jenkins is having done? I have no idea or inside information. This is pure speculation at this point, but the recovery time for this surgery on an average person appears to be four to eight weeks. This would fit with the rumors that Teven Jenkins could be back in November.

Rather than spiraling down that dark rabbit hole known as “Dr. Google” — before I know it, Teven Jenkins will be dying of some rare form of cancer found in only 0.3% of the population — I decided to look into specifics around offensive linemen and back surgeries.