Understanding CJ McCollum’s Cuneiform Fracture
- Post By: Jeff Stotts
- Date:
- Category: NBA, Understanding...
Just two days after the Portland Trail Blazers lost center Jusuf Nurkic to a fractured wrist, C.J. McCollum suffered a bone-related injury of his own. McCollum suffered a left foot injury that was initially called a left foot sprain. However, additional testing revealed McCollum suffered both a mid-foot sprain and a broken lateral cuneiform.
The foot is comprised of 20 individual bones and 33 different joints and articulations. The mid-foot unsurprisingly sits in the middle of the foot at the apex of the arch. The mid-foot is made up of the five long bones of the foot, known as the metatarsals, and four tarsal bones, including the cuboid and the three cuneiform bones. The lateral cuneiform sits below the middle toe at the base of the third metatarsal. Its positioning allows the bone to act as an anchor point for multiple ligaments and tendons while enabling it to articulate with the six neighboring bones.
The location of the cuneiforms often protects them from trauma, making an isolated fracture a unique and relatively rare injury. Even when the cuneiforms are damaged, it is more common to suffer a fracture to the medial cuneiform. Since the 2005-06 season there have been over a hundred foot fractures in the NBA but only one confirmed cuneiform fracture. Last season Rockets swingman Gerald Green suffered a cuneiform fracture during the preseason and underwent surgery to stabilize the area. The injury reportedly involved the Lisfranc joint, indicating the injury was likely to the medial cuneiform. Green would miss 50 games for the Rockets before being traded and waived.
McCollum will likely spend the next four weeks in a non-weight bearing boot. By minimizing the amount of weight placed on and through his foot, he will create an environment more conducive to healing. As long as the injury site remains stable and is able to adequately heal, he should be able to avoid surgery. However, if the fragments do not adequately fuse or become displaced, internal fixation may become necessary. Furthermore, time will also be needed to allow the ligament(s) involved in his mid-foot sprain to heal. As a result, a four-to-six week recovery is possible but a six-to-eight week timeframe may be more realistic for a return to basketball.
McCollum’s fracture is just the latest setback for a Portland team beset with injuries. Even worse, the majority of the team’s significant injuries are bone-related, a type of injury that is difficult to predict or prevent and often accompanied by a lengthy recovery window. Since the 2018-19 season, only the Chicago Bulls have lost more games to bone-related injuries. Portland’s list of fractures in that timeframe includes Zach Collins’ nose and ankle, Nurkic’s leg and wrist, and McCollum’s foot and lower back. The Blazers will re-evaluate McCollum’s injury in four weeks and should have a better idea of his long-term status at that time.