sports injuries: what's a torn labrum?
anaheim ducks defenceman jamie drysdale suffered the injury after being hit into the boards by william carrier.
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jamie drysdale is expected to have surgery soon and will begin rehab shortly after. (photo by derek leung/getty images)
anaheim ducks defenceman jamie drysdale is out four to six months after tearing his labrum in a 4-0 loss to the vegas golden knights.
the 20-year-old nhl player suffered the injury after being hit into the boards by william carrier. drysdale almost immediately dropped his stick and left the ice.
“for our team, it’s a massive blow,” ducks head coach dallas eakins said. “that kid is a big part of our team, especially our back end. his last three or four games, he really started to turn it up a notch. it’s devastating for our team, so we’ll have to have other people step up and take those minutes.”
the 2020 sixth overall pick has no points so far this season. since being drafted, drysdale has put up seven goals and 33 assists in 113 games. he has also made two appearances at the iihf world junior hockey championships: in 2020 where he won gold in the czech republic and 2021 in canada where he won silver.
drysdale is expected to have surgery soon and will begin rehab shortly after. he did not play sunday in a 4-3 win over the toronto maple leafs.
“he’s a young man we’ll have to keep a very close eye on,” eakins said. “he’s a hockey nerd. he loves to play. he loves to compete. he thinks about the game every day … the good thing is we have lots of great support around here for him. i have no doubt he’ll come back stronger and better.”
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jamie drysdale out four to six months for torn labrum
the labrum is a thick piece of tissue — a kind of cartilage — found in the shoulder joint, according to johns hopkins.
when most people think of cartilage, they likely think of a softer material that acts as a barrier between the two points of a joint to keep them from rubbing.
labrum is a different kind of cartilage, which is significantly harder that acts more like a bumper than a lubricant.
the labrum is attached to the rim of the socket part of the joint, making it deeper and helping to keep the humerus in place. it also acts as a support for the other tissues around the joint, such as the ligaments that hold the joint together.
how do you heal a labrum?
in some cases, a labrum tear can heal without surgery, according to the hospital for specialized surgery.
physical therapy will be needed and rest, plus anti-inflammatory medications and, potentially, cortisone injections.
cortisone injections are types of steroid hormones that can be used in sports medicine to treat muscle and ligament injuries.
if the tear doesn’t improve, surgery may be needed. surgeons can make an incision in the shoulder and perform arthroscopic surgery to repair the damage. referred to as slap tear surgery (superior labrum, anterior to posterior), the surgeon will find the torn section of the labrum, and reattach the separate parts together again, according to the cleveland clinic.
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then, the surgeon will drill a hole in the shoulder socket to insert an anchor, and stitch everything back together.
the affected arm will be put in a sling for a few weeks and follow ups will be needed every four to six weeks. it can take up to a year to fully recover from this surgery, with approximately 70 per cent of slap surgeries being successful.
chris arnold is a toronto-based writer.
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