Health

Tiki's Cutting-Edge Cast

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

January 31, 2002 / 8:41 AM EST / CBS

For weeks, we've watched Giants running back Tiki Barber continue to play ball thanks to a carbon graphite cast that has been holding his left forearm together since he fractured it in Dallas.

Dr. Russell Warren, the Giants' team physician and surgeon-in-chief at Manhattan's Hospital for Special Surgery, gave CBS 2's Paul Moniz a lesson on how the lightweight seven-layer cast, made of the same material used for prosthetic devices, works.

"I take a mold of the arm first, then apply a layer of polyvinyl chloride, then nylon to make it smooth," he says. "On top of it, I put a carbon graphite layer and then a nylon layer."

Amazingly, it's only 1/16th of an inch thick, about the width of five sheets of paper, and it is remarkably strong.

"You could take a baseball bat and hit it and you won't dent it," Dr. Warren says.

The cast does not actually heal the arm: It just protects it.

Doctors first used a traditional cast on Tiki--and then ultrasound treatment to stimulate bone growth.

Down in Tampa, Tiki says he's confident the arm will hold out for the big game. The cast allows nearly a full range of motion.

"I've been [catching balls] all week," Tiki says. "I actually carry the ball with my left hand. I'm trying to get back to having a normal day when I'm out there."

Warren has been a familiar sight in the Giants camp for the past 16 years, treating, among others, Lawrence Taylor for a ruptured Achilles tendon and Phil Simms for elbow and shoulder problems.

He admits balancing the needs of the team with those of the players is not always easy but stresses that safety comes first.

"Basically, a player is your private patient," he explains. "You have to treat them accordingly. Sure, there's pressure from the outside but you really do have to do what's best for the patient."

Don't expect to see this carbon graphite cast mass-marketed anytime soon. It can cost upward of $700 to make, about seven times what a traditional cast costs.

As for Tiki, he'll continue wearing the cast for 2 more weeks and then undergo 6 weeks of rehabilitation. He's expected to make a full recovery.