Mike D. Sykes, II
December 7, 2021 2:03 pm ET
The college basketball world breathed a collective sigh of relief on Tuesday after UConn finally revealed the extend of Paige Bueckers’ knee injury.
For those of you out of the loop, Bueckers went down with a non-contact knee injury on Sunday against Notre Dame. She went to make a move and her knee just buckled underneath her.
Folks feared the worst after seeing it happen live, naturally. Again, this was a non-contact knee injury. Those things are literally never good. You can only hope for minimal damage at that point.
That’s why when UConn announced the injury was a tibial plateau fracture, people were a bit relieved.
They tweeted the news out on Tuesday.
We're all behind you, Paige 💙 pic.twitter.com/ecVLeWwqYZ
— UConn Women’s Basketball (@UConnWBB) December 7, 2021
Obviously, this still stinks. But compared to the alternatives of a potential ligament injury? This seems fine. It doesn’t throw too much of a wrench into her already stellar college career.
But this injury is still weird, though. A tibial plateau fracture? That’s a rare one. Folks had lots of questions about what it actually is and how it works.
Don’t worry. We’ve got you covered. Here’s more information about what this is and how it can be dealt with.
So what is a tibial plateau fracture?
Honestly, it’s exactly what it sounds like. A fracture at the plateau of the tibia in the leg. It generally seems to happen when there’s a hyperextension of the knee.
That’s just my understanding of it, though. Here’s a much, much smarter breakdown from the Hartford Courant’s Alexa Philippou.
H/t to @InStreetClothes for explaining to me a tibial plateau fracture in layman's terms:
"Basically what happened is the two leg bones clunked together.. when you hyperextend [your knee], those bones knock together. The plateau is just the flat top of that bone, & so it cracks"
— Alexa Philippou (@alexaphilippou) December 7, 2021
So, basically, she hyperextended the knee and her bones were knocked together hard enough for one to crack.
OUCH.
Oof. That sounds very painful.
It certainly does. But, luckily, it’s not something that will require surgery for Bueckers. It’s just something that will take time to heal.
Paige Bueckers sustained a non-contact hyperextension knee injury. This mechanism of injury can cause bone bruising, the most extreme form of which is a crack in the bone. Depending on severity, important to let this fully heal before resuming basketball. https://t.co/4NfH0MAgGV pic.twitter.com/9YsTMsjMq6
— DocFlynn (@DocFlynnNFL) December 7, 2021
How long will she be out?
UConn is saying the recovery should take 6-8 weeks, but it’s probably more likely that she’ll be reevaluated at that point to determine if she’s ready to come back to play.
Even before he knew what this injury was, head coach Geno Auriemma said he was more concerned with what’s best for Pagie long-term rather than how fast she can get back to the team.
“Obviously, we’re all extremely disappointed for Paige and that she suffered this injury,” he said in a statement. “We’ve had players get injured in the past and my philosophy here is, I’m not interested in how fast we can get someone back; I’m interested in what’s best for them long term.”
That’s the best approach to take for any young player.
Man, this injury sounds so weird. Have we ever seen it before?
We actually have, though it seems to be very rare in basketball. This is the same injury Kobe Bryant suffered to his knee back in 2013 after coming back from his Achilles tear.
The report then was that Bryant didn’t need to have surgery, but the bone needed to heal. And that, if it didn’t heal properly, it could come with some adverse effects.
Tibial plateau Kobe fractured is risky area at top of shin and involving joint. Affects knee alignment, stability, motion. Arthritis risks.
— KEVIN DING (@KevinDing) December 19, 2013
It’s worth keeping in mind that Paige is much younger than Bryant was at that point, but those adverse effects are still worth noting.
Wow, so this could be serious?
Yes, exactly. This is exactly why UConn is right in taking its time with the recovery and not rushing Bueckers back. You want to make sure her knee is fully healed before she plays basketball again.
After all, she’s got a long, long career ahead of her.
