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49ers RB Christian McCaffrey Flies to Germany for Achilles Treatment

You'd think that there would be plenty of doctors in the Bay Area who can treat tendonitis. Going all the way to Germany for an experimental procedure sounds like McCaffrey is trying to heal or prevent a career-threatening injury. And it sounds like he's looking for a last resort.

Grant Cohn

Sep 9, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey (23) watches injured from the sidelines in the second quarter against the New York Jets at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: David Gonzales-Imagn Images
Sep 9, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey (23) watches injured from the sidelines in the second quarter against the New York Jets at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: David Gonzales-Imagn Images / David Gonzales-Imagn Images
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The news about Christian McCaffrey's Achilles tendonitis keeps getting worse.

When they put him on Injured Reserve, they said his injury simply needed rest to recover. Apparently, it also requires a first-class trip to Germany for a treatment that is not available in the United States.

"I'm not sure what doctor it is," Kyle Shanahan said. "I just, I know he is going to see a specialist that I believe can help him with his Achilles process and I think he's doing that over these next few days and hopefully it'll help."

Sounds like rest isn't fixing the issue. And it sounds like the issue could be worse than tendonitis.

You'd think that there would be plenty of doctors in the Bay Area who can treat tendonitis. Going all the way to Germany for an experimental procedure sounds like McCaffrey is trying to heal or prevent a career-threatening injury. And it sounds like he's looking for a last resort.

The 49ers originally classified McCaffrey's injury as a calf strain before revealing his Achilles tendonitis before the season began. For two weeks before the season opener, he practiced with the team and seemed intent on playing. But then the 49ers abruptly shut him down. Shanahan said McCaffrey didn't suffer a setback in practice, but you have to wonder.

With every week that passes, it seems less and less likely that McCaffrey will play again this season. And if he does eventually return, I don't expect him to do so any time soon.

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Grant Cohn

GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.

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