Joba Chamberlain's Ankle Injury is No Joke

Photo Credit: prorumors.com

New York Yankees relief pitcher Joba Chamberlain suffered an open dislocation of his right ankle while playing with his son on Thursday. Now up until a few minutes ago, I didn't know exactly what an "open dislocation" was, so I looked it up... Per Mosby's Medical Dictionary an open dislocation is "a joint displacement accompanied by a break in the skin. Formerly called compound dislocation." So basically, Joba dislocated his ankle so badly, that it broke through the skin... OUCH. The details are still somewhat unclear at this point, but the gist of the reports state that he sustained the injury on a trampoline and according to the New York Daily News, Chamberlain lost a significant amount of blood and was taken by ambulance to the hospital.

Photo Credit: catalog.nucleusinc.com

These pictures outline the basics of this type of injury, but they really don't do it justice. Now I have no idea just how severe Chamberlain's injury was beyond the report of losing a significant amount of blood, but if you google images for "Open Ankle Dislocation" you get a pretty good idea for how something like that could really ruin your day. Suffice it to say, the images that you will see are not for the faint of heart.

This is just the latest in a series of unfortunate events that have befallen the 26-year-old reliever. Chamberlain hasn't pitched since June 5th after suffering an elbow injury last year and undergoing Tommy John surgery. He was progressing extremely well in his rehab and there had been talk of him returning as early as midseason, but this injury will most certainly set him back.