The JC injury

[AFskinsfan]

I thought this might need to be addressed I keep seeing posts saying that JC is done for the year. I haven't heard that from Gibbs yet so until then....

I thought that some clarification of this injury was due. I got this from the internet

Lateral patellar dislocation (LPD) is a common cause of acute traumatic hemarthrosis in young active patients (1). However, dislocation is usually transient, and patients are frequently unaware that it has occurred. Additionally, full examination of the acutely swollen painful knee may be difficult. For these reasons, patellar dislocation has not been initially suspected at clinical examination in as many as 45%–73% of cases (2,3).

Investigators in previous studies (2–5) have described a constellation of magnetic resonance (MR) imaging findings that are characteristic of patellar dislocation and may be helpful for diagnosis. These findings include joint effusion and contusion or osteochondral injury of the anterolateral portion of the lateral femoral condyle and medial patella.In these studies, injury to the medial stabilizers of the patella was also identified as disruption of the medial retinaculum at its patellar attachment or midsubstance. However, investigators in biomechanical studies of fresh cadaveric specimens (6–9) have identified the medial patellofemoral ligament (MPFL) as the major ligamentous restraint preventing lateral patellar subluxation. In addition, the inferior portion of the vastus medialis muscle, the vastus medialis obliquus (VMO), appears to act as a dynamic stabilizer, neutralizing the lateralizing forces on the patella exerted by the vastus lateralis during quadriceps contraction. The authors of surgical studies (10,11) have identified disruption of these structures in patients with prior LPD.

OK so what does this mean? I have had this injury before and I have worked in Physical Therapy for 15 years. This injury is not that bad. As long as there is no ligament damage JC will be fine and be ready to play in about 2 weeks. Or when all the swelling goes down. You do get a lot of swelling with this injury and if there was damage to one of the bursa sacks he may be out longer. With the swelling and trauma you do get some instability but when that goes down, it turns into more of a "feeling" of instability. With proper rehab he will be fine in a couple of weeks. He just needs to get the swelling down and strengthen up his quads. They will either tape his knee or give him a brace or both.

Now Im making this post with the disclaimer that I have not seen an injury report or heard of any MRI results. If there are any ortho docs out there in ES world please give your input to my post. If Im wrong, I will admitt it, but I've worked on these types of injuries for 15 years.