Bueckers to be out for 2 months
The first diagnosis came two days after UConn sophomore star Paige Bueckers fell to the floor in the waning moments of a victory over Notre Dame.
Bueckers suffered a tibial plateau fracture and would be sidelined 6-8 weeks, according to a UConn statement.
One week later, the school announced Bueckers underwent surgery, this past Monday, to repair the fracture and meniscus tear in her left knee. The recovery timeline would span eight weeks from Monday’s procedure.
What’s not clear is whether the eight-week window — which covers 18 games, including the two Bueckers has already missed — includes rehabilitation. Will Bueckers be playing games in early-tomid February or simply begin intense practicing?
Dr. Andreas Gomoll, an orthopedic surgeon in sports medicine at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York, said recovery time likely depends on the severity of the injury. Gomoll, who is viewing Bueckers’ case from a distance and has not seen X-rays, said both the meniscus tear and the plateau fracture can run “the whole gamut.”
“Some fractures are more like a bruise that hurts,” Gomoll said. “You can ‘repair’ it by injecting some bone marrow but not putting screws in or anything like that.
“A meniscus tear, you can go in and sort of trim it out. Clipping it, essentially. That’s the best-case scenario. And if that’s the case, I think the eight weeks sound pretty reasonable.”
UConn coach Geno Auriemma said on the UConn Coaches Show Tuesday night that surgeons at UConn
Health were happy with the procedure and that part of the operation was to get a better sense of the injury.
“That way there’s no guesswork involved,” Auriemma said.
Gomoll said a more severe meniscus surgery would require stitches while the more serious plateau fracture repair might require a screw or implant.
If that’s the case for either, 8 weeks may be at the low end of the recovery timeline.
“Mixing those two scenarios with the information we have … it could be eight
weeks,” Gomoll said. “But if this is ‘real surgery’ — something that needs some time to heal — then eight weeks is quite optimistic.
“So if this is something where we are waiting for something to heal — if the meniscus has stitches or there’s a screw — that automatically means that she will be on crutches for a few weeks. So anywhere between two and four weeks on crutches. And generally in a brace for four to six weeks. That’s sort of a pretty routine thing if there’s something where we are trying to get two things to heal together rather than just sort of trimming something out.”
Gomoll said recovery for this type of surgery will likely start with work on a stationary bike 3 or 4 weeks after the procedure. As incisions heal, there could be work in a pool.
“Again, that’s where that big spectrum comes in — if you trimmed something versus you wait for something to heal,” he said.
A timeline for recovery from a complete meniscus repair or a severe fracture would span up to 4 months, Gomoll said.
But he added that elite, well-conditioned athletes such as Bueckers sometimes defy recovery expectations.
“These people are a little superhuman,” he said. “It’s happened before.”
Is it common for the two injuries to occur together? Gomoll said the meniscus tear is more common than a fracture in the upper shin.
But the tear could occur if the area around the knee is compromised by even a minor fracture.
“Sometimes you get these tiny little compression fractures,” Gomoll said. “It’s more like if you push hard with your thumb on styrofoam and you see the little indent. In my reports, that’s called a fracture. But it’s not the kind of fracture where the tibia snaps like a dry twig, where you have to put screws and plates in. That’s more like, when you hear people have ACL tears and, oh, he had a bone bruise.
“That’s sort of the bestcase scenario. She could have very easily torn the meniscus and had one of these bone bruises. It’s the meniscus tear moreso than the fracture that will determine when you can go back to playing.”
UConn (6-2) lost its first game without Bueckers, falling to Georgia Tech last week in the Huskies’ first loss to an unranked opponent since 2012. After beating UCLA Saturday, UConn will face Louisville Sunday at Mohegan Sun Arena.
Bueckers, the national player of the year as a freshman, is the team’s best player. But UConn is also missing Azzi Fudd (foot), Nika Muhl (foot) and Aubrey Griffin (back, ankle).
If the best-case scenario has Bueckers out until at least mid-February, UConn will be a work in progress.
“You have to be ready. It’s not going to be pretty all the time,” Auriemma said on the Coaches Show. “It’s going to be a struggle. You have to embrace the struggle. That will make it even better.”