Rice addresses hip surgery with online post

Vikings receiver Sidney Rice laid out his rationale for having hip surgery this week instead of months ago. He explained it all on his blog.

Sidney Rice took to the Internet to explain his situation to fans.

Rice had surgery on Monday to repair a hip that was injured in the NFC Championship Game on Jan. 24. The timing of the injury and the decision to wait until this week to have surgery has caused a commotion among fans.

“I got an MRI right after the game and the doctors said at that point that I had time and it could heal on its own. So I just tried to take it easy from there. No one wants to have surgery if it can be avoided, especially if the injury has a chance to heal on its own,” Rice wrote on his blog, sidneyrice18.com.

“I gave it some time and it started getting better over the next couple of months. Mini-camp came around and I tweaked it during practice. I wasn’t feeling good after that so I went and got another MRI out in Colorado with Dr. Philippon. He looked at the results and basically said it looked the same as after the MRI I had after the Saints game. He said I could have the surgery or I could continue rehabbing and see how it felt and it could still heal on its own.”

Rice wrote that he was told surgery was an option after the season but that he would be able to play on it during the season.

Things apparently changed about 10 days ago when he returned to the doctor for another magnetic resonance imaging test, which showed “significant changes.”

“It was something he thought would be a serious problem if I didn’t get it taken care of right then, a problem that could shorten my career. I was feeling better, I had my full range of motion back and felt like I was ready to go, but the doctor compared the last two MRIs and said I should get it taken care of right now,” Rice wrote.

Rice said after hearing from the doctor again, it made it so he doesn’t regret having the surgery.

“He said it could have been much worse if I would have tried to play on it during the season. He said it could have been my last year of playing football, so I know I made the right decision,” he wrote.

Rice said he was on an exercise bike on the same day of the surgery.

“It’s only been a couple of days but I’m feeling better and better with less pain. I have to take it slow, I don’t want to rush it, but everything should be fine and I should be back to 100 percent if I follow my rehab plan, which I will,” he wrote.

Rice is in the final year of his contract with the Vikings, one that will pay him $550,000, but he said he isn’t concerned about that now and is instead focusing on getting back on the field.

“If the Vikings decide to give me an extension, that’s great. If not, life goes on. I’ll continue to work hard and do everything I can to be successful in what I’ve been doing my whole life, and that’s playing football,” he wrote.

Rice said having Brett Favre on the team makes it more exciting and praised his leadership. Favre said during his Wednesday press conference that the Vikings’ season will be made tougher without Rice there for the first half of it.

With Favre last year, Rice turned into a Pro Bowl receiver, catching 83 passes for 1,312 yards and eight touchdowns.

“I’m aiming for being back on the field before midseason,” Rice wrote. “I want to do as much rehab as I can as fast as I can without jeopardizing the injury or making it worse. Whatever the doctor says, I’m shooting for two weeks before that.”

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