Sadly, my biggest and longest-lasting break was a heartbreak.

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And maybe I'm missing something important here, but the one replay I watched had him leaving his feet to block a jumper, coming down, and his leg giving way.

Granted, his landing must have been awkward, but athletes do 'awkward' all the time without suffering compound fractures. How can a BB player for a major BB NCAA school (Louisville) have made to that point in his career without having this leg weakness exposed before now?

Did he have a medical history with that leg? Commentators speculated that he must have had a prior stress fracture, and that would make sense, but still, how could he have started that game with a broken leg?

I didn’t watch it, so did he have a collision or something earlier in the game that might have cause a crack?

LAST EDITED ON 04-02-13 AT 10:45 AM (EST)

One explanation:

Louisville basketball player Kevin Ware's horrific leg fracture was a freak accident that may have been exacerbated by previously undetected stress fractures.

"He came down hard, landing in an awkward way," said Dr. Robert Glatter, an emergency physician at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York and a former sideline physician for the New York Jets football team. "That combined with an underlying bone issue or an existing stress fracture predisposes someone to this type of injury."

Tim Hewett, director of sports medicine research at Ohio State University agreed. He speculated that Ware's diet could have been deficient in vitamin D and calcium leading to more porous bones. That, combined with the constant pounding Ware endured through an entire season of basketball, may have created small stress fractures in the tibia and fibula bones in his lower leg, causing his bone to snap when he took a bad step.

"Watching the video tape over and over, I would not expect this type of fracture to occur. I suspect he had some risk factors that created some sort of bone deficit," he said.

(eta) Another article on the same.

Being a tall boy he may have grown too fast at one point and with just the wrong diet, or not enough sunlight, etc. There may have been a weak point, add a potential stress fracture and I watched the landing several times, that kind of lateral movement wouldn't effect a normal bone, but if it was already cracked and you got just the right twist it could separate then having your whole weight coming down is probably what made it end up as it did.

Unfortunately sometimes you don't find the stress fracture (and with the adrenaline of the game he may have not even been feeling any pain from it starting to go) until some force in the right/wrong direction makes it blow completely.

And an achy shin isn't uncommon in athletes. It would be interesting to see if he complained of shin splints leading up to the tournament.

He may have had an inherent weakness, but that isn't an explaination for how he could be on a Major college BB team, a starter no less, and not had that weakness exposed before now.

And I'm told that stress fractures are painful. When stressed, much the same as ordinary fractures. Even so, some athletes that incur stress fractures do try to play thru the pain when they receive them during a game. But starting a game with that kind of pain?

That's bravery and dedication to the game. And frankly, a form of idiocy.

That's why I'm wondering if he may have thought it was a shin splint (which is annoying but not all that serious cause of pain) or maybe even fell earlier cracking it on something and just thought it was bruised.

I dunno how often athletes get random X-rays of the long bones just to see how normal they are, or how visible this was prior to letting itself be known so dramatically.

Could be one of those things that rarely would cause anyone problems even up to normal levels of fitness, but the extreme stress eventually caught up with him. A lot just happens to be luck, just never getting just the wrong stress in just the wrong direction.

That it seemed to be a fairly normal jump just seems to indicate something was just a bit funny. Maybe if they can figure it out they can find a way to monitor for it. Although I think if you did enough tests you'd find some funny anatomical glitch in just about everyone. Most of them never cause a problem unless the stars align and they've got just the wrong stress put on them.

Could even be some undiagnosed Marfan's syndrome. Isn't unheard of for even an elite athlete to never have gotten that diagnosed until something bad happens, and that it makes you taller than your genes would otherwise indicate means it tends to be common in tall people, like basketball players.

LAST EDITED ON 04-04-13 AT 06:50 PM (EST)

Here's an interesting article about sports medicine research in identifying those players who might be prone to these types of injuries.

Doctors from Ohio State University are finding that certain players may be more prone to particular injuries -- and it has to do with how they move.

And in an effort to cut down on injuries on the court or the field, Dr. Timothy Hewett, who heads the project at OSU's Wexner Medical Center, and his team have developed simple screening tests to better determine who is at risk for certain problems before damage occurs.

"What we've demonstrated in the laboratory," Hewett says, "is that we can predict with greater than 80% accuracy who is at higher risk for relative injury."

The screening techniques are so accurate that the National Basketball Association has asked OSU doctors to help identify which of their athletes are at the highest risk for anterior cruciate ligament, or ACL, and other injuries, and to come up with programs to try and prevent them, so that more players are on the court than on the bench.

I've broken a finger or two, but I've had two serious breaks (aside from my heart as I mentioned below).

1. Left Ankle: I was playing softball sophomore year of high school. I was having one of my best games. I had thrown out a runner at second and had made a play at the plate the inning prior. I was on first after a single. It was somewhat chilly, and field conditions weren't peak. We had had rain. I remember standing on first and giving my jacket to my coach, which meant I was going to be stealing. I ran for second and slid. My left foot hit the bag. There was the shout of "Safe," followed by my screams. We had ridden to the away game on a school bus. Fortunately a friend with a car had come to the game, and he gave me and a coach a ride to the hospital. the next day I had to crutch it about five blocks to a specialist.

2. Left Wrist - 2009. Some of you may remember. I was at a boot camp at the gym. It was the 4th of July. We were outside running different drills. One was to shuttle backward. I fell back and caught myself with my wrist. It did not break the skin, but I remember seeing the bone sitting up. It made my physically ill. Surgery followed and a plate and screws were put in. Months of therapy followed. I have only been able to do real pushups since last year.

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I've never knowingly broken a bone, however it is possible that I have broken my right little toe on a couple of occasions in Who put what there? kicking incidents (like Moonie I walk around barefooted indoors).

Other than that I bent my right thumb backwards saving a goal once (and stuck to my attacking midfielder role from then on) and flew off something like this but for four children and with a more powerful spring, when two teenagers decided to see how much it would buck, and my six year old self couldn't hang on anymore which involved a trip to hospital, stitches, and a missing hour and an half. Very surprised I didn't break anything then.

Lovely cheese Mooney

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