Deportivo La Coruna's left-back Filipe Louis was on the outset of the selecao at the beginning of the year but this past weekend he fractured his right leg above the right ankle. A horrific injury, from an innocuous tackle at the Athletic Bilbao goalmouth, it reminded me of other such injuries: Eduardo da Silva's year long battle to return to Arsenal's first team after fracturing his leg, Cisse of Liverpool's anguish from not one but two devastating anke injuries, and even Henrik Larsson of Celtic's miraculous 7 month recovery from a bad fracture in 1999. David Busst of Coventry City, in a game against Manchester United in 1996, suffered an injury so severe to his leg that he never played again.

I worked for 6 years as an x-ray technician and orthopedist's assistant and saw all too well the effects of a game of football. Business was up 30% when the season started, and that was just for the youth soccer progams in the area, I can only imagine what the experience is like at the highest level of Sports Medicine. It is a dangerous and very physical game and it is amazing what the best Orthopedic Surgeons in the world accomplish daily to help restore the careers of the best players in the world.

The key to the treatment is having immediate medical attention. The first few minutes are crucial. The limb has to be stabilized and the player needs to be checked for signs of shock. There may be bleeding, and whether or not it's an open or closed fracture, there is always an opportunity for infection. For severe fractures there might be bone loss needing lengthy surgeries, realignment of the injured area with or without screws and plates, and that's not even considering the lengthy rehabilitation and pain management. It is imperative that the area be stabilized as quickly as possible, as there is always the threat of amputation.

It looks like medical staff that treated Filipe Louis's injury were able to do just that. They stabilized the inury, operated on him immediately as they couldn't "reduce the almost three centimeter injury, and the player was at risk of amputation due to obstruction of his anterior tibial artery." The player will be in a cast for a month or so, and then in a walking boot to stimulate weight-bearing bone growth for the next 6 months approximately. He'll be back to training sometime in that window and then playin again sometime next year. A positive sign and good news.