This Is The Kind Of Horrible Surgery NFL Players Will Go Through To Play

Tampa Bay's Brian Price has a congentially malformed pelvis, and last season he injured himself picking up a tennis ball. This is what he went through:

Price underwent two rare and radical surgeries - one on each side of his pelvis - to correct his problem. Those involved using two metal screws per side to anchor a large piece of bone back to the pelvis. That piece of bone, on each side, is where the hamstrings attach.

According to Buccaneers trainer Todd Toriscelli, whereas the two pieces of the pelvis normally fuse into a single bone in adults, the halves of Price's pelvis were connected by a more breakable cartilage. The player's hamstrings - tight as piano wire - were progressively pulling apart his pelvis.

Somehow, just eight months later, he's back starting for the Buccaneers at DT.

Buccaneers' Brian Price playing again after two radical surgeries [LA Times]