FOXBORO — As soon as word spread that Rob Gronkowski re-broke his left forearm Sunday, the general consensus was that Bill Belichick & Co. made a mistake and brought the tight end back too soon.

After all, the injury happened to the same arm he broke eight weeks earlier against Indianapolis.

According to multiple medical professionals, however, without knowing the specifics of the break there’s ultimately no way of knowing if the Patriots made the right or wrong move by playing Gronkowski, who, according to a source, had season-ending surgery yesterday.

Dr. Andrew Terrono, orthopedic surgeon and chief of hand surgery at New England Baptist Hospital, said it’s impossible to make a determination without knowing if Gronk broke his forearm in the same place or in a new spot. But he said considering the time frame, it’s likely that the arm wasn’t at full strength even if the bone was healed.

“When you weigh 270 pounds and you’re running at a fast speed and dive and roll over on your arm, no matter what happened, that’s a lot of force,” said Terrono. “At eight weeks, it’s certainly not as strong as it was before this happened. Without knowing what happened, I’d say part of it’s bad luck and part of it is you’re taking a little bit of a chance if it’s not completely solid.”

Dr. David Forsh, assistant professor and chief of orthopedic trauma at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, said that even when a bone looks fine on an X-ray, it doesn’t necessarily mean it’d be at full strength to sustain a fall like Gronkowski did.

“If he heals it, it’s one thing, but he has to actually have the strength to tolerate the amount of impact that these guys tolerate on a play-to-play basis,” said Forsh. “(Healing) sometimes takes a little more time for a bone to develop its strength again to retake that impact. . . . On an X-ray you look at it and say, ‘Oh, the bone is healed.’ That may or may not necessarily say that he can tolerate the load that he sustained during a simple fall like that.”

Dr. Benjamin Wedro, a certified emergency physician who practices in Wisconsin and has consulted at the Olympic Games, says that part of the healing process is getting the muscles around the bone strong again after being in a cast.

“It depends on where the break is for what they’re going to have to do to fix it,” said Wedro. “But ultimately, he’s going to end up with an arm that’s normal and functioning normal for him.”

It’s likely that when the 2013 season starts, the tight end will be at full strength.

“Presumptively,” said Wedro. “Lots of bad things can happen. With normal healing, he should be back.”