Edmonton Oilers rookie sensation Taylor Hall was injured in a fight in Thursday’s game against the Columbus Blue Jackets, when he went up against Derek Dorsett. The injury came as the two went down to the ice, when Hall twisted his ankle.
The Oilers announced that Hall would be getting an MRI on Friday afternoon. Hall will be unable to travel with the team as they begin a five-day road trip this weekend.
Lucky for hall, there doesn’t appear to be a fracture of the ankle at this time. The MRI was most likely ordered to check for a high ankle sprain or any other type of injury to the soft tissues of the leg and ankle.
A high ankle sprain involves an injury to the tissues connecting the two bones of the leg, the tibia and the fibula. This tissue, known as the syndesmosis, helps keep the ankle joint in line and plays a critical role in stabilizing the ankle. The syndesmosis can be strained or torn in an ankle injury, and can be a particularly difficult injury to heal. They typically take longer to heal than a normal ankle sprain.
A high ankle sprain is typically treated with a cast for 6 weeks, so long as the injury is stable. When the injury is unstable, surgery may be necessary to place a screw through both the tibia and fibula, holding the syndesmosis together while it heals. These screws are typically left in for 3 months. Patients are instructed not to walk on the injured leg while the syndesmotic screw is in place. There is normally some motion between the two bones when walking, and this motion may break the screw.
Another surgery may be required after the syndesmosis is healed to remove the screw, while some doctors will let the patient begin to walk on the leg until the screw breaks. The reason for this is that there are very few reported problems with a broken screw. If there is a problem, then the screw can be removed as it would have been anyway. This way, the patient is saved an extra surgery until they need it.
If Taylor Hall is shown to have a high ankle sprain or a serious sprain or tear of the ankle joint, he will have to miss a few months of the season until he can heal.
Hall is leading his team with 22 goals this year, along with 20 assists. He is in contention for rookie of the year. Thursday’s game against the Blue Jackets gives Hall his first career “Gordie Howe Hat Trick”, in which a player scores a goal, an assist, and gets in a fight all in the same game.
