Add a bad hip to Peyton Manning’s list of physical ailments.
Manning, the 39-year-old Broncos quarterback who missed a full season after four neck surgeries and more recently missed time this season with a foot injury, says that his doctor told him two years ago that he’s going to need a hip replacement down the line.
“Certainly when you have injuries, when you have surgeries, the doctor sometimes will mention to you, whether you ask him or not, ‘Hey you are probably heading for a hip replacement at a certain time in your life,’” Manning said today. “I said, ‘Doc, I didn’t ask you if I was going to have a hip replacement. I didn’t need to know that right here at age 37, but thanks for sharing. I look forward to that day when I am 52 and have a hip replacement.’ Am I going to have some potential neck procedures down the road? I don’t know the answer to that. The hip part was true. I can’t remember which doctor told me that. I have seen a lot of doctors. He was nice enough to share that information with me. I feel like I do a lot of things to try to ‘prehab’ if you will. Preventive type of stretching. I wear a posture shirt and different things like that. As those things come along later in life for me, I will try to handle them and try to have a good plan when those are around. I feel pretty good as we speak and I am fortunate for that.”
Manning may feel pretty good today, but his physical ailments seem likely to lead to his retirement after Super Bowl 50. With Manning’s list of injuries, it’s unlikely that he’ll still be in the NFL when he’s 40.
