{"id":1022744,"date":"2026-10-09T10:00:20","date_gmt":"2026-10-09T10:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/1022744\/"},"modified":"2026-10-09T10:00:20","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T10:00:20","slug":"why-lamar-jacksons-ankle-injury-has-to-be-handled-carefully","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/1022744\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Lamar Jackson’s ankle injury has to be handled carefully"},"content":{"rendered":"

Join the huddle. Sign up here<\/a> for Ravens updates in your inbox.<\/p>\n

When Tennessee Titans defensive end Jermaine Johnson dove at the right foot of a scrambling Lamar Jackson late in the first half of Sunday\u2019s game, he missed. <\/p>\n

In Johnson\u2019s attempt to corral the Ravens quarterback\u2019s right foot from behind, he\u2019d landed on the back of Jackson\u2019s left foot. And as Johnson fell, Jackson\u2019s ankle twisted. <\/p>\n

The human body is predisposed to inversion, a movement where the sole of the foot turns inward, toward the midline of the body. Imagine a typical rolled ankle in a pickup basketball game. <\/p>\n

Jackson experienced the opposite. In an eversion of the foot<\/a>, the sole turns outward, away from the body\u2019s midline. The ankle ligaments at greatest risk are not the lateral ligaments, which start at the end of the fibula that forms the bony bump on the outside of the ankle, but rather the medial deltoid ligament, a strong triangular band of tissue on the inner side of the joint. <\/p>\n

\u201cMost people, when they are spraining their ankle, they are spraining the lateral side,\u201d said Dr. Amiethab Aiyer<\/a>, a professor of clinical orthopedic surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.<\/p>\n

Jackson is believed to have suffered a medial sprain, according to media reports, an uncommon ankle injury<\/a> that could sideline him for Sunday\u2019s game against the Atlanta Falcons \u2014 and perhaps longer. Coach Jesse Minter has not specified Jackson\u2019s injury or recovery timetable, except to say that he\u2019s not expected to be out \u201ccrazy long-term.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen he\u2019s ready to play,\u201d Minter said after Jackson missed practice Wednesday, \u201che\u2019ll be ready to play.\u201d<\/p>\n

The deltoid is the ligament most responsible for stabilizing the ankle, Aiyer said. That also makes it harder to tear and potentially more significant when it is damaged. <\/p>\n

The severity of a medial sprain depends on the damage to the two layers of tissue in the ligament \u2014 one deep in the ankle, the other more superficial. A Grade I sprain, the least severe, applies to a ligament that is stretched but not torn, resulting in mild pain and swelling. A Grade III sprain, the most severe, applies to a completely torn ligament and is associated with significant instability.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe more of the ligament that is involved, whether it\u2019s the more superficial part of the deltoid, or the deep part, or both, that is what will help to dictate to what extent is the ankle increasingly unstable,\u201d said Aiyer, who is not involved in Jackson\u2019s treatment. <\/p>\n

High-ankle sprains, which typically sideline players for over a month, can also accompany medial sprains, Aiyer warned. Sprains can damage ankle structures such as the syndesmosis, the group of ligaments that connect the tibia and the fibula at the ankle joint.<\/p>\n

Dr. Kyle Yost, an assistant professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in orthopedics and family medicine, said medial sprains typically take longer to heal than low-ankle sprains.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou tend to be more conservative, a little bit, in the beginning,\u201d said Yost, who is also not involved in Jackson\u2019s treatment. \u201cSo you\u2019re talking more like weeks versus days for this type of injury.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jackson left the Ravens\u2019 win Sunday over Tennessee<\/a> in a protective boot, which Yost said would help relieve any potential stress on the syndesmosis and stabilize his injured ankle. Jackson then underwent an MRI on his ankle Monday; Aiyer and Yost said the results of the imaging would help guide his treatment and recovery, from range-of-motion exercises to physical therapy. <\/p>\n

\u201cWith momentum here, it would be very easy [for the Ravens] to say, \u2018Let\u2019s just go,\u2019\u201d Aiyer said. But he urged caution, saying Jackson could \u201crun the risk of making an injury, whatever it is right now, into a worse one.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cThat is the very fine line that becomes a very important conversation between whoever the player is and their team physicians \u2014 and the coaches, for that matter \u2014 about, \u2018Hey, how do we get this player back on the field?\u2019 \u2026 I think that\u2019s really the tough call here.\u201d<\/p>\n

If Jackson returns before his ankle is fully healed, the effect on his game could be noticeable. Yost, a team physician for Maryland and UMBC, said Jackson\u2019s mobility would likely be limited \u201cfor a while\u201d if he\u2019s recovering from a medial sprain. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what really kind of gets zapped a lot of times with these ankle sprains on the medial side, is your explosiveness,\u201d he said. \u201cSo he\u2019s probably not going to be doing that as much.\u201d<\/p>\n

Minter indicated Wednesday that Jackson could play without practicing, but Aiyer said more deliberate ramp-ups would help with recalibrating his body\u2019s readiness for certain movements: \u201cOK, this is what you need to do. This is how you need to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Injuries were a hindrance last season for Jackson, who was limited to 13 games and career-low rushing numbers. But only Jackson knows how painful this latest injury is. And only Jackson knows how much pain he could play through. The challenge for him and the Ravens now is figuring out an acceptable level.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou want to make sure that he\u2019s doing well and that he\u2019ll tolerate the load before you send him back,\u201d Yost said. \u201cYou don\u2019t want to make it worse or send him back too early.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Join the huddle. Sign up here for Ravens updates in your inbox. When Tennessee Titans defensive end Jermaine…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1022745,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2052],"tags":[184,117,2282,7,6,169],"class_list":["post-1022744","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-baltimore-ravens","tag-baltimore","tag-baltimore-ravens","tag-baltimoreravens","tag-football","tag-nfl","tag-ravens"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/117410373546791163","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1022744","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1022744"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1022744\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1022745"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1022744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1022744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1022744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}