Vikings linebacker Jordan Hicks wants to play weeks after surgery to save his leg

Vikings linebacker Jordan Hicks is hoping that he can see the playing field sometime this month. But then again, he’s also thankful that what he thought was a simple shin bruise didn’t cost him his leg.

Hicks hasn’t played since Nov. 12. That’s when the Vikings beat the Saints. It’s also when Hicks tried to tackle Saints running back Alvin Kamara. But he also collided with teammate Camryn Bynum. The safety’s knee hit Hicks’ shin. Stuff like that happens on many snaps during games for every level of football. Hicks walked off the pain on the sidelines, then came back into the game. He did the same thing at halftime, but went back into the game when the third quarter started.

He tried to tackle Kamara again and realized something was wrong. The pain, he said, was far worse than what he felt when he tore his Achilles in college and in the NFL.

“Finished out that drive … I was at the point where I couldn’t lift my foot,” Hicks told reporters this week. “I had no more dorsiflexion. Strength was gone. I started getting some numbing in my toes. Went back into the locker room, sat back on the table and it seriously felt like instantly, the adrenaline went away and pain just skyrocketed through the roof.

“I seriously don’t even remember the training room too much because of how much pain I was in. People were coming up to me and wishing me good luck and everything. I couldn’t tell you whose face I saw in that moment.”

Vikings linebacker left game via ambulance

Hicks’ injury morphed into compartment syndrome. It happens most often after a lower leg injury. Pressure starts to rise in the muscles and surrounding tissue. If not stopped, the condition can cut off the flow of blood and oxygen to the affected body part. Sometimes the only medical treatment is amputation. Compartment syndrome also can be fatal in rare cases.

But Vikings athletic trainers and team doctors recognized what was happening. An ambulance took Hicks, a former Texas Longhorn star, to a Minneapolis hospital for emergency surgery. Doctors made an incision into Hicks’ leg. They kept the wound open for four days to make sure everything drained and the tissue could return to normal. The Vikings linebacker said he spent two-plus weeks sitting on the couch.

Hicks spoke to reporters this week for the first time since his injury. He’s still on injured reserve. The earliest he can return to action is Christmas Eve.

“We’re pushing it right now,” Hicks said. “We’re trying to see how much it can handle. You don’t want to push it too far and have it swell up or do anything like that. So each day, there’s a process to it. And obviously conditioning, strength, I’m sitting on the couch for two-and-a-half weeks doing nothing, just trying to let it heal. Decrease the risk of infection as much as possible.

“Then you just continue to make strides toward those checkpoints,” the Vikings star said. “We’ve got them laid out, we’re trying to make those strides, and once we’re all comfortable with where I’m at, it’s go time.”