![]() ![]() Without other complications, these fractures can heal solidly in four to six months. Fortunately, that is not usually the case. The gruesomeness of the images leads one to believe that these must be career-ending injuries. While this is a relatively rare injury, many of you will also recall Louisville Cardinal Basketball star Kevin Ware’s almost identical injury last April, during the NCAA March madness Midwest Regional Final. (note: these are not Paul George’s actual x-rays) To further stabilize the fracture, he probably also inserted additional screws above and below the break, right through the bone and the rod. Therefore, his surgeon made an incision just below the knee, made a small hole in the bone at the top of the tibia, and inserted a rod about the size of your little finger, the whole length of the tibia. The tibia is a very strong bone, but only the outside of the bone is strong the inside of our bones, where the marrow is, is actually quite soft. His surgery included cleaning the leg wounds, and then his surgeon inserted a titanium rod into the tibia. This increases the risk of infection, compared to a closed fracture. An open fracture means the bones penetrated the skin, and were exposed to the outside air. Paul sustained an open (also called compound) fracture of both his tibia and his fibula, and had emergent surgery to fix this. While I’m sure few people were actually watching the USA Basketball intrasquad scrimmage game live last week, many of you undoubtedly have now seen the horrific video footage of Indiana Pacers forward Paul George jam his foot into the base of the backboard stanchion, causing his tibia, or lower leg bone to snap and bend at a 90 degree angle. Paul George’s tibia fracture shows us a very rare, but devastating basketball injury. WARNING: This post contains VERY GRAPHIC IMAGES, please be advised ![]()
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