Compound fractures are common in car crashes because of the momentum and force of the crash, and are rarely seen in sports.  Although just recently Owen Miller, a senior on the Manheim Township Varsity Lacrosse Team, suffered a compound fracture in the first game of the season.  

In the last few minutes of Manheim Township’s lacrosse game against Academy of the New Church, Miller was involved in an accident that would change the remainder of his high school lacrosse career.  As he was running, Miller’s legs got tangled with his defender’s and they both went down, but Miller bore the brunt of the fall as his opponent fell on his leg. The injury happened so fast, no one was quite sure of the severity of the injury right away, according offensive coach Jay Ridinger.

“I could feel it snap,” says Miller.  Even though Miller was in a lot of pain, he was “astonishingly calm”, according to head coach Dan Lyons. He also said that at first, people assumed it was a knee injury, which is common in lacrosse.  Then once he was out there, you could clearly see that the bone was broken, just as Miller had been telling people. Ridinger said he knew Miller was hurt when he didn’t get up right away because he “doesn’t let little things bother him.”  Dan Quigley, the athletic trainer of Manheim Township, said, “I saw him fall and waited to see if he got up and saw the look on the referees face and he was waving me over and I knew something was up.” Quigley said he just tried to keep the scene calm, stabilize the wound and get Miller to the hospital.

A compound fracture is when the bone is exposed and breaks the skin.  Quigley said he has only seen a compound fracture, due to athletics, four or five times in his 36 years of experience as a trainer.  As a result of the bone breaking, this type of injury can take a long time to heal. The healing time depends on which bone is broken and where the break occurs on the bone.  The bigger the bone, the longer it takes to heal. If the break is closer to a joint, it can also hinder the healing process because along with a broken bone, the patient will have joint problems.  Quigley estimates that Miller’s injury could take nine months to heal because he didn’t just break one bone, but two, in his leg. So far, Miller says he has been resting and might have to do physical therapy in the future.  Quigley says that to get better, a patient should “listen to the professionals” and “don’t rush it”.

Before his injury, Miller was a great distance shooter, according to Ridinger, which is hard to come by.  Miller was talented at not only at scoring, but playing the game. “He knows how to get open and get other people the ball and play in those gray areas”, says head coach Dan Lyons.  He also says that Miller worked hard in the off-season to be able to play well while in season, which set an example for the younger players.

Miller will be out the rest of the season, a big disappointment considering he was a starting attackman.  The coaches don’t seem that worried about the team in the coming games. Lyons said that although they lost a great player, there is a large roster and as unfortunate as Miller’s injury is, it brought the team together and has allowed other players to step up in Miller’s absence.  With a phenomenal season so far, the record stands at 12-1.

Even though Miller is not playing on the field, he is still a large presence off the field.  He is still engaged with his teammates and his classmates, and says that they visit him. Lyons says that Miller still wants to watch the games via livestream and know what is going on. “It has been cool to see the support he has had from the rest of the team. As a coach and not his friend, seeing that is nice,” Ridinger says. Miller has gone to watch games in person, but says it is “really weird” just being on the sidelines.

After high school, Miller is set to play lacrosse at the University of Tampa, where he committed earlier this academic year.  His coaches don’t think that this injury will derail his college career, but Miller says otherwise, “This is the first time I’ve been out a whole season, it will be hard to get back into the game.”  Although Miller has been playing lacrosse since first grade and has plenty of experience, rehabilitation takes time. Quigley also believes that Miller won’t be back on the field this year. Unfortunately, it was not a clean break, so Miller needed surgery, but a rod was put in his leg that will help keep the leg stable and hopefully recover well.

Injuries at the start of a season, especially senior year, are never good.  The most a player can do is support the team and hope to recover as best and quickly as possible.  Hopefully Miller will have a successful, injury free college career.