March Madness: Kevin Ware's injury and prognosis
In today's Elite Eight contest, Louisville's Kevin Ware sustained an injury that was hard to watch-and will be even harder to rehabilitate.
March Madness: Kevin Ware's injury and prognosis
Robert Senior, Sports Doc blog Editor
If you saw it, chances are you’ll never forget it.
In today’s Midwest regional final, Louisville Cardinals guard Kevin Ware suffered a broken leg on a seemingly routine play in the first half against Duke. Ware attempted to challenge a jump shot and landed awkwardly in front of his team’s bench. The game was delayed for about 15 minutes as doctors tended to the fallen player.
Ware, who broke his leg in two places, was resting this morning after successful surgery, the AP reports, in which a rod was inserted into his tibia.
We talked to Justin Shaginaw, MPT, ATC, lead therapist and coordinator for Sports Medicine at Aria 3B Orthopaedic Institute about Ware’s road to recovery. Shaginaw works with the United States Men’s Soccer Team and says he’s seen quite a few such injuries on the pitch.
“Most of those injuries are caused by slide tackles, where people come into contact with that area,” he says. “I’d say it’s a pretty common soccer injury.”
As traumatic as the injury appeared on TV, Shaginaw is optimistic for Ware’s chances of recovery. He says the key is the type of break sustained. “If it’s a clean break, the fracture will heal fine,” he says. “But if it’s a bad break [with the bone fragmented] then the fracture may not heal [as quickly or easily]. The biggest concern is whether there’s an injury to a nerve, artery or vein.”
Television reporters at the game were able only to confirm a broken leg. If that is indeed the totality of Ware’s prognosis, Shaginaw says he’s optimistic at the chances for a return to play.
“I would probably say 80-90 percent of players with similar injuries have returned to play,” he reports. “And maybe 60 percent or so are able to return at the same level.”
Shaginaw says that the appearance of the injury doesn’t always match the severity of amount of pain the player feels. But with this type of injury, recovery will be psychological as well as physical. Until Ware’s injury, the play couldn’t have been any more routine—a player challenging an outside jump shot. After an incident like this, will Ware be mentally able to return to playing basketball at a high level?
“These are tough ones to come back from,” Shaginaw admits. “My guess is that this injury could be somewhat easier to come back from than a football or soccer tackle, because that involves another player injuring you. People can be hesitant to return to that sort of contact. Hopefully since this was more of an awkward landing, it might be a little easier. But he definitely faces a challenging recovery.”
Read more Sports Doc for Sports Medicine and Fitness.
The one time they showed it was enough! Wish him all the best! Pittino was white as a ghost.— kissamiazz- Bodies should not bend that way. Ugly. Get well Ware!— foment3
- in all of my years of playing and watching sports, this was the most gruesome injury. of course, it didnt help that CBS felt compelled to show it a 3rd and 4th time. hopefully his recovery is smooth and speedy.— theeducator
- Glad I missed it, and refuse to watch the replay. Good luck to the young man.— b,ill a,tkins
- i don't know, i saw the footage and his landing didn't seem *that* off. that kind of break makes way more sense in a collision or tackle. i hope for his sake there isnt some underlying condition that weakened his bones. his team looked worse off afterward than he did though. im surprised he didnt pass out.— f_ade_ing
- I agree with f_ade_ing. Bones shouldn't break like that just from landing. Are they weakened? A freak thing for sure. Hope he heals quickly and completely.— uofi91
I am so sorry for this guy. I hope he has a complete recovery. Orthopedic surgeons will take care of this injury.- i wonder if he had stress fractures or a hairline fracture in the bone that had gone undetected previously— murdock101
- in complete agreement with @bill atkins, didn't see it, glad I didn't see it, will not watch the replay. Having read above from @theeducator that CBS showed it 3 or 4 times, all I can say is that the world has gone sick. No good reason at all to display an injury of this magnitude once it was ascertained that it was catastrophic for the young man and horrific to see.— advantasux
- It may not count for typical sports viewing but the reality is that sports can be dangerous something that the media has chosen to conveniently remind as it replays the gory details ad hoc...over and over.
https://scallywagandvagabond.com/2013/03/watch-as-louisville-player-kevin-ware-breaks-his-leg-very-graphic/— scallywag - he shpould have drank his milk instead of sugary drinks— SlimFox
- REAL updates on his surgery and prognosis have been up for over 8 hours. "Television reporters at the game were able only to confirm a broken leg." Wow- thanks for that. Good work.
— Grammar Police - I'd rather see Crosby take a puck to the face.— Joseph DeSantis
- Not sure what CBS you all were watching but I didn't see the replay played out 3-4 times. IN fact I watched that whole scene and still didn't know what happened. CBS stopped showing as soon as it was known how gruesome the injury was. There was one camera angle that showed the leg bending limply. CBS played it right and stopped it as soon as it was known of the severity. Remember if anything we are too sensitive to those things which is why it was censored.
I hope that kid recovers fully and continues his career. One tough man right there.— moose42 - I haven't seen and wish NOT to see it— Chemist1524
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