JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Jaguars quarterback, Trevor Lawrence, is dealing with a high ankle sprain. Medical professionals say that can typically be worse than a lower ankle sprain, but it also depends on tissue damage.
The images of Trevor Lawrence going down, punching the ground and showing frustration as he came off the field during the Monday Night Football game with the Cincinnati Bengals were upsetting.
“I hope they have a strong enough backup to carry them through the rest of the season,” Jaguars fan, Ashley Stewart, said.
Another Jaguars fan, Johnny Brown, said, “When the quarterback goes down, you’re going to be concerned. It didn’t look very good. I saw it being three to four weeks when I saw it on TV.”
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News4JAX met with Jerry Stevens, the head athletic trainer for Duval County Public Schools. He said at this time, it’s hard to speculate on Lawrence’s injury. He said high ankle sprains get a better diagnosis after a few days.
When we asked Stevens if a bone break was worse than a sprain, he said, “That’s not always the case -- because of the blood flow that’s available to the ligament repair versus bone repair. There’s a lot of blood and calcium so a bone could technically heal faster than a sprain.”
Stevens also explained why he’s not surprised that there’s no definitive answer as to the severity of Lawrence’s injury. “That’s typical even at the high school level. Parents are asking, coaches are asking. Because we’re all individual, we do heal at different rates. But there is a timeframe bell curve.”
Dr. Harold Laski was a team doctor for Jacksonville’s old hockey team in the 80s and 90s. He says it really comes down to the soft tissue.
“Probably because they don’t know just how serious it is. Whether there’s a major tear, not all ligaments tear completely. You could have a partial tear,” Dr. Laski said.
It’s likely there will be an idea of Lawrence’s prognosis by the end of the week.
We should mention that the Jaguars are dealing with other injuries right now. For example, leading wide receiver, Christian Kirk, has a core muscle injury and will miss some games.