Bria - Ligament Tear

[UConnCat]

I fear this is going to be a dark cloud hanging over the season.

Bring your umbrella.

​

 

[UcMiami]

I think some of the misinformation involves 'tissue' vs. attachment point for ligaments - ligaments connect bone to bone and if there is damage to the ligament in the middle as opposed to it tearing away from the bone, I do not believe it can 'heal' itself as it has no internal blood supply. If it tears completely away from the bone, again, I do not believe it can 'heal' itself as it will shrink away from the attachment point. If there is still some connection to the bone then it can 'heal' itself as the attachment can be regenerated.
The more severe the sprain, the more likely to require some form of surgery to reattach the ligament or in worst case to replace it. Based on Bria's actions to date, it appears the sprain was not too serious as she would not have been able to 'play through it' initially. Based on the fact that it did not get better, it is more serious than she initially thought and she may have in fact made it a little worse by not completely resting it. However there is no indication from her that she incured a second incident, but rather that the pain just didn't go away so the problem was more just not allowing the initial injury to heal rather than causing further damage.

 

[vtcwbuff]

With acknowledgment of a tear, all talk of Bria playing this year sounds like rushing her back to me. This is a red shirt situation, IMHO.

The main reason is, of course, health. I'm here relying on those posters who say a tear cannot heal itself. I'm likewise relying on those who refer to surgery after the season and constant trainer visits if she were to play this year.

Those are all indicating risk and rush.

One final factor: Bria is a Wade and 1st team AA candidate. Even if she rushes back, she's going to miss several games and lots of practice, thus were she to return, her chances of excelling would be diminished. Granted, team considerations may be more important, but bottom line remains that Bria has a tear.

Bria, I am very sorry to hear of injury of that nature; take your time, take it slowly, red shirt.

You are relying on bum dope. Read the link I provided earlier. FWIW many years before MRI's I had a severe ankle sprain. The doctor mentioned that I had probably torn some ligaments. His treatment, tape and rest. It essentially healed itself but it took a while.

 

[Ozzie Nelson]

There you have it..the only issue left is "tape" or "redshirt".

 

[magical2]

Now is the winter of our discontent made glorious by the gloom of the Boneyard....

Richard the 3rd Shakepeare
Ira

 

[jplotinus]

Even if there are orthopods posting here--I'm not--the very best any of us can do is post up opinion and gossip, not necessarily in that order.

Another bone I have to pick is with that thread of commentary that either overtly or ever so subtly, blames Bria for not being forthcoming, as an example of one blame comment. The student athletes are late adolescent people, age 18-22 on average. They are only on the team because of a singular drive to maximize their athletic gifts.

It is unseemly, IMHO, to put blame on them for seeking to play through pain. Rather, the tesponsility for their health has been entrusted to a paid staff that must do the job of monitoring the condition of the student athletes.

Mind you, I am not here saying the staff did anything wrong, either. After all, it doesn't appear we are speaking of an obviously serious injury. If there were no symptoms visible to the staff, then, likewise, there was nothing Bria should other than play hard until she noticed a lack of improvement.

Bottom line, Bria, we admire you. Get better and come back when you are able.

 

[CONNFAN23]

Some people need to realize that sprains and partial ligament tears of the ankle are not that uncommon of an occurence in basketball. I dont want to sound brash but those of you thinking this will require surgery are way off base, and even worse those of you even thinking red shirt are even more off base. I am not a doctor and have no "inside information" but if the injury were a bad enough tear to warrant surgery or a red shirt then you would see Bria on crutches not a walking boot. I expect her back in 2-3 weeks at the most.

 

[Replicant]

As noted on the board in other threads, Bria said she thought it was just another sprain (like she's had before) and thought she could play through it. She didn't say much if anything to the staff. As soon as Bria told the staff that the pain was worse (or not improved) they shut her down after 2 or 3 practices. She has not practiced since.

Bria has been playing non-stop and living with mild sprains (Grade-1) for a long time - she's never had time off to rest/heal with all her USA and UConn commitments. Whether she's aggravated a prior condition this time, had a new event, or both, only her doctor knows for sure and rest will be the cure. The real kick-in-the-pants is the chronic/nagging nature of this injury, especially the "high sprain" variety.

Bria doesn't have an "off-season" (think Sue Bird and her aching hips ). Bria being the warrior she is has probably not helped her own cause (ankle). I suspect (like myself) that she has a high pain tolerance. That's not necessarily the good news it sounds like. You play on, when you really shouldn't.

But John A's "slight tear" report does not indicate the more serious Grade-3 variety. Therefore "red shirt" worries are way overblown IMHO. She should be good-to-go after the New Year!

 

[Icebear]

Quote from the article linked above.

"They (ankle sprains) can take several months to allow the patient to feel confident in the strength of the ankle. When patients begin activity too soon, this can lead to more sprains while the old sprain had not fully healed. This will lead to chronic ankle instability that often needs to be corrected surgically."

Rest is the best solution and the first of the year may be a better goal. Rushing back can have sigficant long term inplications.

 

[vtcwbuff]

Quote from the article linked above.

"They (ankle sprains) can take several months to allow the patient to feel confident in the strength of the ankle. When patients begin activity too soon, this can lead to more sprains while the old sprain had not fully healed. This will lead to chronic ankle instability that often needs to be corrected surgically."

Rest is the best solution and the first of the year may be a better goal. Rushing back can have sigficant long term inplications.

I agree. I would rather see her sitting until BE play than coming back too soon and just aggravating it again.

 

[stamfordhusky]

Many sprained ankles ARE ligament tears. A grade 1 sprain is stretched ligaments. A grade 2 sprain involves partially torn ligaments. And a grade 3 sprain means a completely torn ligament.

Usually a torn ligament will heal itself - even a grade 3 sprain. Surgery is very rare.

If it's a grade 2, the most common type, a reasonable guess would be a month to recover. A grade 3, i.e. complete ligament tear, could be a bit longer.

 

[OneTrickPony]

Bring your umbrella.

​

Joe...!

 

[stamfordhusky]

Very please they finally figure it out. The sprain seemed to be lasting far too long. Dumb non-physician here - this is nothing like an ACL or MCL right? No surgery needed, just rest and rehab to let it heal?

Correct. A torn ankle ligament - which is nothing more than a higher degree of a sprain - will usually heal itself. (An MCL will usually heal itself also, btw.)

 

[Biff]

This thread is actually making me think of another body part.....

 

[pinotbear]

Given our propensity for knee-jerk reactions, I'm not sure this shouldn't be our unofficial Boneyard logo!

 

[OneTrickPony]

Correct. A torn ankle ligament - which is nothing more than a higher degree of a sprain - will usually heal itself. (An MCL will usually heal itself also, btw.)

That's what my doctor told me...

 

[Sargassoc]

I think some of the misinformation involves 'tissue' vs. attachment point for ligaments - ligaments connect bone to bone and if there is damage to the ligament in the middle as opposed to it tearing away from the bone, I do not believe it can 'heal' itself as it has no internal blood supply. If it tears completely away from the bone, again, I do not believe it can 'heal' itself as it will shrink away from the attachment point. If there is still some connection to the bone then it can 'heal' itself as the attachment can be regenerated.
The more severe the sprain, the more likely to require some form of surgery to reattach the ligament or in worst case to replace it. .

A much better explanation for what I was trying to say. To me, there's nothing that suggests surgery and I never meant to imply that. I broke three ankles and didn't need (or have) surgery for another twenty years. And I didn't have my second surgery until eight years after the first. Up until those surgeries, I played high school, college (D-III, though), league softball, and skied-- just fine. (Never pain free, mind you, but fine. Always had to ice the ankle afterwards and always had swelling afterwards.)

Another excellent medical/ortho link HERE for how an ankle sprain occurs (and the varying degrees of injury and response needed).

 

[Phil]

Comments by Bria (from Rich's blog):

“There’s a little pain in it still,’’ Hartley said. “But not as much as when I’m moving. But the ligament was torn so it’s repairing itself. The doctor (Tom Trojian) looked at it before we played (Wednesday) night (against Holy Family). The range of motion is a lot better. The swelling went down a lot too.

“Right now I’m just working on getting better. That’s the only thing I can do. (Team athletic trainer) Rosemary (Ragle) has me doing a bunch of workouts and stuff, trying to stay in shape a little bit, get my stamina up. So that’s really all I’m concentrating on.’’

Clearly Dr Trojian skipped the A&P chapter on ligaments not being able to heal themselves.

I think it is Bria whose medical knowledge is deficient, unless she was quoting Dr. Tom, which I doubt.

 

[Sargassoc]

Plus a little known fact-- (perhaps even to him): pre-surgery, I played softball on Phil's (see above) work league team.

 

[Icebear]

This thread is actually making me think of another body part.....

Please don't remind me of what it was to have a complete tear of the quadraceps tendon above the patellar. A knee jerk reaction is infinitely preferable to no reaction at all.

 

[UConn Sal]

Per various Tweets, Bria has a torn ligament in her ankle. Hopefully will be back by Paradise Jam.

A ligament injury is what a "sprain" is. Stating it is a tear is purely a matter of degree of injury not a substantially different injury although recovery will be prolonged. sometimes a fracture will heal more completely and quickly than a sprain or a ligament injury.

 

[UConnChapette]

I remember when I had a severe sprain the doctor said it was such a bad sprain I would have been better off breaking it. And he was right. I broke my ankle, and had two permanent pins put in with surgery. After 6 weeks, I was pretty much fully recovered. But with that bad sprain? It was about 10 weeks before I could walk on it without pain in every step, and another month or two before I no longer noticed it at all.

 

[UConn Sal]

The exam break is in mid-December. After that we have 2 easy games prior to Christmas....UHart and Oakland. If Bria comes back for those two to knock some rust off prior to our game against Stanford on Dec. 29 that would be great. She would miss games against ranked teams Texas A&M, Purdue, Maryland and Penn State.
Thank heavens for our guard depth.

Louisville over A&M 47-45? Not knowing a blessed thing about how it went but I doubt 'twas a pretty game.

I wouldn't count on U Hartford being an easy game. A Jen Rizzoti Team are you kidding.

 

[UConn Sal]

I dont want to start a debate in medicine here but I simply cant sit back and say nothing when there is wrong information being given. First off yes torn ligaments can heal on their own. This usually occurs with a RICE approach which stands for Rest, Ice, Casting, Elevation. In fact most tears heal on their own and only extreme cases especially in ankle ever require surgery.

As a retired M.D. I would like to confirm your evaluation, that her recovery will be prolonged. I also believe it would be best for her and the team to take it slow!!!!

 

[Phil]

I wouldn't count on U Hartford being an easy game. A Jen Rizzoti Team are you kidding.

I watched their first game. Entertaining, and I'll be watching many more, but they won't be serious competition for UConn. If they are within 30, it will be a moral victory. Jen doesn't like moral victories, so she won't celebrate losing by 30, but there's a serious talent differential.

 

[vtcwbuff]

I wouldn't count on U Hartford being an easy game. A Jen Rizzoti Team are you kidding.

The last time the two teams played, Hartford scored 39 points. It was an "easy" game.

 

[Dove]

With the speed UConn plays come BE time...and beyond...who knows how the ankle will respond. Definitely don't red shirt here but I wouldn't expect her to ever be 100% this season. Bummer.

 

[Fiftyish]

Was at the C of C game today and couldn't help but notice that Bria was in her civies and didn't have her ankle wrapped or have her ankle incased in a boot. I would have thought that we be standard procedure. No?

 

[stamfordhusky]

I wouldn't expect her to ever be 100% this season. Bummer.

I think that's overly pessimistic. If she doesn't experience any complications, there's no reason she can't be 100% prior to January.

 

[msf22b]

ESPN photo (http://scores.espn.go.com/ncw/photos?gameId=323160041&photoId=2545696)
confirms 50ish' observation.
I double-checked when I saw what might have been a boot on(or near) her right foot...but it's the wrong foot (for the sprain).
So either she wears flats and does not protect the foot or does what a lot of young females do:
keeps a spare set of footwear for social or dress occasions.

PS: notice the serious, concerned look on Geno and Shea's faces as they observed critical events in the second half! They were up by 50 or 60 at the time; imagine if they were losing (previous pic).