The date is January 13th, 1991, and Bo Jackson is running down the sideline in a playoff game vs the Cincinnati Bengals when he takes a hit from linebacker Kevin Walker. Jackson suffered a hip subluxation, (partial dislocation) which he popped back into place himself, and what he believed was a just simply a hip pointer. (deep bruise to hip) This wrong self-diagnosis is likely what caused his injury to be so severe. In the injury Jackson tore blood vessels but it was a month until Jackson had an examination with Royals’ team physician, Dr. Steve Joyce. When the test results came back, they showed he already had a complete loss of cartilage on the ball & socket as well as early stages of AVN. The extent of damage Jackson had usually didn’t appear for somewhere between 6 months and 2-5 years depending on what doctor you ask. The likelihood of AVN happening to someone with a full hip dislocation is only 6-15%, again Jackson only had a partial hip dislocation. Surprisingly, AVN happens much more often in non-hip dislocation situations. (alcoholism is a much more likely cause of AVN)
With Tua suffering a full hip dislocation compared to Jackson’s only partial dislocation, one would naturally assume this should spell certain doom for Tua! But that’s just simply not the case. You see if a hip is set back into place in under 6 hours many doctors believe that the risk of AVN is reduced to a below 10% chance of developing. Time is everything when it comes to AVN. The less time it takes to properly set the hip back into place the lower the chances of developing AVN. Tua’s hip was set by doctors almost immediately at the stadium whereas Jackson popped his hip back himself. The damage/loss of blood supply to his hip wasn’t discovered until his medical examination by the Royals’ team doctor. Many people seem to be so quick to compare Tua with Jackson for the simple reason they both had dislocations & fractures (although the fractures were to different places in the hip) a better comparison I think would be C.J. Mosley, who is also an Alabama alumnus. In the 2012 Nation Championship Game after picking off & then being tackled by LSU QB, Mosley dislocated his hip. Although his hip wasn’t fractured like Tua’s it was a full dislocation and was reduced at the stadium just as Tua’s was. As expected, Mosley never developed AVN, was was still a first round pick in the 2014 draft, and is still playing in the league today.
So now that we have established the chances of Tua developing AVN is less than 10% the question to be asked is: If Tua develops AVN does that mean his career is over? Not necessarily. Back in 1991 The New York Giants orthopedic surgeon Dr Russell Warren said when being asked of Jackson’s injury, that he had one running back (never gave a name) who, five years prior suffered an almost identical injury to Jackson, developed AVN, sat out for a year rehabbing, and was able to return and was still playing. With Jackson the AVN developed so rapidly (because it was a month before the damage to the blood flow was discovered) and so extensively that treatment was not really an option and he was forced to have a hip replacement. Tua’s hip has been constantly monitored since his injury. In fact, the weekend before he declared for the NFL draft, he flew to NY for an additional opinion. If AVN does begin developing it should be detected very early on, and with the development of new medical treatments since 1991, Tua would have several different options. The first being medications to slow the development of AVN prolonging his career by several years. Second option would be electrical stimulation. The electrical currents would stimulate your body to grow new healthy bone to replace the damaged bone. Next option would be core decompression. Part of the inner layer of bone is removed again stimulating new healthy bone growth. He could opt for a bone graft taking healthy bone from another part of his body and replacing the damaged bone in his hip. And finally, he could have regenerative medicine treatment. This is a newer procedure to treat early stages of AVN. Dead bone is removed and replaced with stem cells from healthy bone marrow again to grow new healthy bone.
The next concern many fans have is because Tua fractured his hip this must mean his hip bone is now weaker and he will be at an even greater risk of another hip injury. This is just simply not true. Fact is after a bone has fully healed the bone is just as strong as a bone that never broke. The reason some people/athletes suffer another break to the same bone is trying to come back to physical activity/sports before the bone is fully healed. After a bone breaks the surrounding area to the break is weaker from lack of use being in a cast and the surrounding area breaks. As long as Tua’s hip fracture completely heals he should be at little risk of another hip fracture as it was such a freak accident in the first place.
So please, over the next 3 months try to reign in all that doom & gloom about Tua Tagovailoa being Bo Jackson all over again and his career being done for.