Injury Report: Erik Haula - Knee (Day-to-Day)

[Chrispy]

Knee dislocation is a rare but serious injury
By: Dr. Rick Cunningham
He is a knee and shoulder sports medicine specialist with Vail-Summit Orthopaedics
and a physician for the U.S. Ski Team and president of Vail-Summit Orthopaedics.
Knee dislocations are a rare but very serious injury. In a knee dislocation, the hinge joint of the knee, made up of the thighbone (femur) articulating on the shinbone (tibia), is disrupted. In order for the knee joint to dislocate, at least two major ligaments must tear, and more often, three or four of the primary stabilizing ligaments of the knee tear.
Athletes who dislocate their knee will ultimately require surgery to repair the damaged ligaments, tendons and/or cartilage. However, this surgery is typically done in a delayed and staged fashion.
If certain tendons or cartilages are torn, then these are repaired first. The knee is then rehabilitated to allow for swelling to go down and to restore range of motion to the joint. Ligament tears to the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), posterior cruciate ligament (PCL), lateral collateral ligament (LCL) and/or medial collateral ligament (MCL) are typically repaired secondarily.
Knee dislocations are very serious injuries that occur in athletes and others. They require urgent care and treatment in order to prevent serious complications.
Ask a Vail Sports Doc column: Knee dislocation is a rare but serious injury

Just to point out, this is NOT the same injury as what Haula described as "a dislocated patella".

The patella is the kneecap, which slides out of the socket created by the ligaments. Very painful to slide out, very painful when it pops back into place, and lots of swelling and recovery. And yes, this can strain the ligaments and tendons around the patella.

Dislocated knee involves the entire joint coming apart as the above post describes.

Based on his recovery and return, I'd guess a dislocated patella. But based on this Athletic article and this quote:

Haula said the surgeon who eventually operated on his knee is a sports knee specialist but had seen the injury in hockey only one other time.

it could have been a knee dislocation. If that was the injury, I'm surprised he's already playing. I saw it happen to CJ Leak at Wake Forest, and he took almost 2 full seasons to return to playing football, but was never the same player again.

 

[Vagrant]

"Infection" mistranslation was all on me. The Finnish common language word for it gets used for both inflammation and infection, I failed to realize this with my initial try at it.

hopefully my comment didn't come off as critical. i can barely speak one language. it just didn't seem consistent with this type of injury for infection to be an issue unless it was post-op or something. the updates are very much appreciated, especially as our own media has been entirely cordoned off the subject.

 

[MinJaBen]

Obviously not a doctor, either, but every time I hear "cartilage," I think "micro-fracture surgery." Which never seems to work in athletes.

Yeah, I'd rather my favorite athlete get a complete ACL tear than have cartilage damage.

 

[zman77]

Who is at Risk for Patellar Dislocation or Kneecap Dislocation?
People who are likely to suffer Patellar Dislocation or Kneecap Dislocation are young athletes than any other group and the age range that are affected are 16 to 30 years. Sports involving the twisting of the leg suddenly are associated with the involvement of the injury. Soccer, ice hockey and gymnastic are such examples. The occurrence of the same can be when a person slips on a slick surface or tripping over an object, especially a person having predisposing factors.
Complications in Patellar Dislocation or Kneecap Dislocation
Patellar Dislocation or Kneecap Dislocation complications include:

• Tendons, ligaments and muscles tearing which usually help in reinforcing the injured joint.
• Damage of blood vessels and the nerves surrounding the joint.
• Reinjure susceptibility if severe dislocation has occurred or dislocation that has repeated.
• Arthritis development in the affected joint as the age increases.
• If tearing has occurred on the tendons or ligaments supporting the injured joint or if damaged has resulted on the blood vessels or nerves surrounding the joint, surgery may be needed for the repair of these tissues.

Causes & Symptoms of Patellar Dislocation or Kneecap Dislocation

 

[zman77]

Patella Dislocations

 

[Lempo]

hopefully my comment didn't come off as critical. i can barely speak one language. it just didn't seem consistent with this type of injury for infection to be an issue unless it was post-op or something. the updates are very much appreciated, especially as our own media has been entirely cordoned off the subject.

Certainly not; mistake was all mine, and I kind of was already aware that infection in the English language is what happens with bacteria and other pathogen, and so I should have checked it up to be on the safe side when reporting on a health issue of importance.

 

[NotOpie]

This is some incredibly civil discourse here....did I accidentally happen upon a Quaker meeting?

 

[Navin R Slavin]

This is some incredibly civil discourse here....did I accidentally happen upon a Quaker meeting?

No, because Quaker meetings happen mostly in silence.

 

[poobags]

I dunno, our speculations may be good enough. Though, maybe they're not. Eh, what's up doc? (munches carrot)

I love that this is the last thing on page 2 and then by page 4 people are pulling in anatomical diagrams of the knee to support their theories.

 

[Lempo]

This is some incredibly civil discourse here....did I accidentally happen upon a Quaker meeting?

I'm sorry, I also misspelled quack in the invitations.

 

[NotOpie]

No, because Quaker meetings happen mostly in silence.

True story....when we would go on road trips with the family (I grew up with 2 brothers) and the 3 of us got too rowdy, my dad would yell, "It's time to play Quaker meeting....1st one to talk loses". Being ultra-competitive siblings he usually got a good 20 minutes of silence out of us....it was only later in life did we all realize there was no such game.

 

[cptjeff]

Well, so much for all the speculation about Haula's knee- per Waddell, it's not the knee, it's tendonitis. Unfortunately sounds like it's going to be an ongoing issue, though.

Hurricanes.com: What's the latest on Erik Haula, and is that a concern at this point?
Waddell: It's not a big concern. He had a major surgery last year. We've done MRIs. It's not his knee. It's tendonitis. He's almost pain free, in speaking with him the other day, so he's back on the routine of hitting it hard on the gym, and he'll start on the ice here soon. It's going to probably flare back up at some point. You've just got to maintain it and give him those maintenance days when you can. We expect him to make a full recovery and be back with us shortly.

 

[cptjeff]

Also, if you want to hear Quakers get heated, go to a business meeting. Messages in worship are usually pretty tame, but when you get into whether the meeting should record a minute on some issue or another, the knives come out. Even more fun are regional gatherings- NC Yearly Meeting recently imploded over gay marriage after a decade long battle. Couched in nice language (usually) but really pretty tense at times.

 

[DaveG]

Well, so much for all the speculation about Haula's knee- per Waddell, it's not the knee, it's tendonitis. Unfortunately sounds like it's going to be an ongoing issue, though.

dealing with this in my forearm right now I can so f***ing relate. It's such a pain in the ass. Was hit hard with it initially back in late summer, rehabed it through September and early October. Was feeling great by the end of October and then about a week ago my arm goes: LOL Nope, back to pain town for you. Which considering I work on a computer all day... yeah... serious pain in the ass.

 

[GoldiFox]

Well, so much for all the speculation about Haula's knee- per Waddell, it's not the knee, it's tendonitis. Unfortunately sounds like it's going to be an ongoing issue, though.

It is tendonitis in his reconstructed knee. Those comments are similar to what Waddell said a few weeks ago. Haula will be dealing with this soreness for the rest of his career. Like anyone with tennis elbow. The trick is figuring out how to manage it.

 

[Anton Dubinchuk]

dealing with this in my forearm right now I can so ****ing relate. It's such a pain in the ass. Was hit hard with it initially back in late summer, rehabed it through September and early October. Was feeling great by the end of October and then about a week ago my arm goes: LOL Nope, back to pain town for you. Which considering I work on a computer all day... yeah... serious pain in the ass.

Got a bad case of golfer’s a few months ago and it was brutal. Crippling pain that ended multiple workouts early. Initially came up because of poor squat form, but once you have the tendinitis even correct form hurts.

After trying everything I finally started doing self-massage directly on the attachment point at the elbow and it stopped being a nuisance within a week, and completely cleared up a few weeks later. Just massaging the crap out of it whenever it was in pain. Been a few months since with no hiccups.

 

[robbieberns]

Well at least it’s only long term pain management and not reoccurring/ongoing structural issues, which is what everyone has been saying all along. Good for all parties involved that he should be back soon.

 

[hblueridgegal]

He was spotted at Whole Foods yesterday getting a custom smoothie. May it have magic healing powers.

 

[Finnish Jerk Train]

I've had it in my wrist twice this year. Short of getting surgery on it, the only fix so far has been cortisone shots. Feels bad man.

 

[RodTheBawd]

I've had it in my wrist twice this year. Short of getting surgery on it, the only fix so far has been cortisone shots. Feels bad man.

And to stop batin so much.

 

[AD Skinner]

And here I thought self massage was supposed to be effective

 

[Roboturner913]

poor squat form

look, pal, pooping stories are my territory around here, got it?

 

[Roboturner913]

And to stop batin so much.

 

[Lempo]

look, pal, pooping stories are my territory around here, got it?

His massaging the crap out will keep you on your toes. The NHL players become lax when there's no competition to exert yourself against.

 

[NotOpie]

Isn't he married? Why does he have to self-massage? Too much of that and there will be nothing left to make brothers and sisters for the baby that he and his wife are expecting....