- During the Japanese stage of the Grand Prix, the only Russian figure skater performing there, Daria Usacheva, was forced to withdraw from the competition.

She felt a sharp pain during the execution of the jump and could not finish the warm-up.

According to the preliminary diagnosis, the girl has a trochanteric fracture.

Is such an injury compatible with a further sports career?

- Before giving any comments on a particular case, it would be nice to look at the pictures and understand what the exact diagnosis is.

If this is indeed a trochanteric fracture, then it is completely unusual for adolescents.

Moreover, it is quite rare even in adult athletes, but sometimes it arises from excessive loads on the bone growth zone.

- That is, the athlete's affairs are very bad?

- Large trochanter separation is a very serious injury.

The trochanter itself is a powerful bone formation, to which three gluteal muscles are attached - small, medium and large.

Flexion and abduction of the hip is entirely dependent on these muscles.

In terms of treatment, this is a long story, the athlete, I think, will drop out for at least six months, but I repeat: before you confidently voice the possible consequences, you need to look at the pictures.

- Judging by the television picture, the injury did not occur during the fall, but at the moment Usacheva entered the jump.

- It is not at all necessary that a fall or a blow led to such a turning point.

Chronic overloads lead to it more often.

As a result of these overloads in the human body, there is a restructuring of bone tissue, its weakening, and the formation of a fatigue fracture, which is localized in a certain place.

- Could the constant and very tight weight control adopted in women's single skating lead to weakening of the bones?

- I am not an expert in sports nutrition, so I will not answer this question, but I think that the reason here is still different.

These are chronic accumulating microtraumas in a certain area, which gradually lead to a violation of the integrity of the bone.

Moreover, now is the Olympic season, everyone wants to break into the national team by all means and are ready to train for this much more than usual.

Accordingly, the loads increase sharply.

The critical moment in this case can come even not under the influence, but from any unsuccessful movement.

- According to the information already available, Usacheva was worried about the back of the thigh for a long time.

- Perhaps they simply did not understand that diagnosis.

The back of the thigh is not a trochanteric story at all.

Not to mention, posterior trauma and treatment are common in athletes, but trochanteric fractures are extremely rare.

  • Sergei Arkhipov before surgery at the Sports Injury Department of the Federal Scientific Clinical Center.

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  • © Alexander Wilf

- Can surgical intervention speed up the recovery process, or do you need limb fixation and rest?

- Depends on the nature of the fracture, and there may be a lot of them.

If he is without displacement, none of the doctors, I think, will recommend the operation, if with displacement and the presence of fragments, it is necessary to operate.

But I repeat: until there is an accurate diagnosis and images, all this is nothing more than words.

- While we were talking, a press release appeared with an accurate diagnosis from the Russian Federation of Figure Skating, according to which the athlete still has not a fracture, but a ligament tear of one of the internal muscles of the right leg in the growth zone of the femur.

Does it change the picture a lot?

- If this is so, and the MRI really showed exactly this damage, then to a certain extent, yes.

If the ligament comes off completely, then the muscle will contract and the tendon will "run away".

That is, it is imperative to sew.

If the ligament is only torn, conservative treatment is recommended, but it will not be quick either: Usacheva will be able to return to stress no earlier than two months later.

This is the minimum period.

And it is clear that in two months the athlete will not return to jumping.

Complete detachment is fraught with the fact that in children the tendon at the place of its attachment can come off together with the contact zone, that is, a fragment of bone tissue.

In this case, the restoration will naturally require much longer periods of time.