Bulls player confronts demanding recovery

June 29, 2003|By Bob Condor, Tribune staff reporter.

The motorcycle accident of young Bulls-star-in-the-making Jay Williams is a tale of twos.

First thing, he sustained two major injuries, either of which could possibly end a career. One is a fractured pelvis that reportedly has been surgically repaired. The other is severe damage to the ligaments and major nerve in the left knee.

Second thing, Williams faces two tracks of recovery. One is the everyday-scary variety any motorcyclist in a serious crash might confront. The other is his quest to return to a Bulls uniform as an elite athlete.

Exercise scientists and sports fans regularly debate what is the toughest sport. American professional basketball, with its 48-minute games and 100-game seasons for playoff teams, is always at or near the top of the list. Even as Williams began rehabbing last week--by gently wiggling the left hip region to provide lubricant to the healing joint--on a much more basic level he will be working to simply walk normally in his daily life.

The problem is the knee's nerve injury.

"Nerve damage is hardest for doctors to predict or fix or do anything about," said Dr. Mark Hutchinson, director of sports medicine at the University of Illinois at Chicago. "When he tore the ligaments and his knee was crooked [after crashing], you hope all he did was stretch the nerve in the knee area rather than rupture it."

Hutchinson said that if the nerve damage doesn't correct in six months or so, it would mean Williams won't be able to flex his foot. He would likely have to use a brace to avoid dragging his foot and toes.

One option for others who suffer "foot-drop" is transferring muscles from the calf. But it weakens the muscle by at least 20 percent, said Hutchinson, not a favorable option for a point guard who was the second overall pick of the National Basketball Association draft last June.

Once the pelvis and nerve damage questions are resolved, regaining knee power could delay Williams' comeback considerably beyond earlier optimistic predictions.