Top NFL Prospect Abdul Carter Has Stress Reaction. Here’s What That Is

With the 2025 NFL draft fast approaching, Abdul Carter probably expected to be under a fair amount of stress. After all, many draft pundits have felt that the former Penn State defensive end could be the top pick in the draft. And that possibility brings lots of scrutiny and pressure as well as its share of physical and medical testing. But Carter may not have expected doctors to find a stress reaction in his right foot, as they did on Wednesday night at the NFL Scouting Combine at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Initially, there were concerns that such a finding would mean surgery for Carter. But his agent Drew Rosenhaus stressed that this stress reaction would be a “nonfactor” in Carter’s draft value. In fact, Rosenhaus expects Carter to work out at Penn State’s pro day, March 28, without having to go under the knife, as reported by Adam Shefter for ESPN.

What Is A Stress Reaction?

In this case, a stress reaction is not a psychological or emotional thing but rather a physical thing. It’s called a reaction because some bone in the body is reacting to some sort of repeated pounding, pressure or other kind of physical stress, hence the name stress.

Such repeated stress is common in many types of sports. Running and jumping, for example, can put lots of pressure on your lower extremities. That’s why the most common locations for stress reactions are in the bones of the feet, such as the calcaneus, fifth metatarsal, sesamoid, talar neck and tarsal navicular, and in the bones of the legs, such as the anterior tibial cortex, femoral neck and femoral head. You are far less likely to suffer stress reactions in your upper extremities, neck or skull unless head spinning regularly happens to be your thing.

A Stress Reaction Versus A Stress Fracture

A stress reaction is a potential prequel to a stress fracture — a bad prequel like Star Wars: Attack of the Clones. There’s no evidence of a fracture or break at the moment. But the bone already shows some weakening or damage. It may be inflammation of the periosteum, which is the tough, fibrous membrane that’s wrapped around the bone, sort of like that plastic packaging around hot dogs. It may be thickening of the bone, known as sclerosis. It may be thinning of the bone. There may be an accumulation of blood and other fluids in the bone, which is called a bone bruise. Basically, something’s not right in bone town. It just hasn’t reached the breaking point, literally and figuratively, yet.

Now, you may have heard that material in your bones is breaking down and being built back up naturally every day. That’s true. It’s why weight-bearing exercises like squats and Zumba can strengthen bones. Stress reactions occur when the build-back-up processes can’t keep up with the breaking-down activity. You’re essentially giving the bone too much stress to handle. In this way, it’s a bit like emotional and mental stress. Some is good, helps your learn and keeps you sharp and strong. Too much is when you break down and can’t do anything but binge watch Parks and Recreation.

How Do You Diagnose A Stress Reaction?

It may or may not be easy to tell if you have a stress reaction, assuming you don’t MRI all your bones each day. You may have no symptoms, or you may experience some pain, tenderness and swelling around the area. It’s more of a tip-off if these symptoms get worse during a repeated stress activity and decrease with rest. Such symptoms should prompt you to contact a doctor, who can then use a physical exam and imaging such as an X-ray or MRI to look for a stress fracture or bone damage.

How Do You Treat A Stress Reaction?

The first step in dealing with a stress reaction is RICE. No, this doesn’t mean cover your foot or whatever body part is affected with that stuff that goes in sushi or a paella. RICE stands for rest, ice, compression and elevation. Basically, doing these things will help reduce the inflammation and give your bone time to heal.

Surgery should not be a first option. It should be reserved for when proper healing is not likely to occur on its own. This may be the case when more conservative treatment has failed or the damage is in an area that with poor blood supply. One sporting exception is when a professional athlete has to return to the field or court sooner than natural healing time will allow.

That doesn’t appear to be the case for Carter. Since we’re fresh off the Super Bowl, giving Eagles fans, oh, about 191 days to gloat, there’s no rush to get Carter back onto the field full speed. If the damage to Carter’s foot is uncomplicated, there should be plenty of time to allow it to heal. Will it affect his draft position? Time will also show how NFL teams like the Tennessee Titans, Cleveland Browns and New York Giants, which have the top three picks in the draft, react to Carter’s stress reaction.