FanPost

A BTB exclusive report: Ratliff's injury

Iliacus_medium

via www.painreliefvermont.com



According to Mark Slough, Jay Ratliff's agent, "Tendons attached to the pelvis from inside the leg, from the abdomen at the top of the pelvis, were both ripped apart."

As the illustration demonstrates, the Iliacus muscle attaches to the top of the pelvis. The muscle crosses the hip and attaches to the femur deep in the leg. The quadriceps muscle lies superior (or on top of) to the Iliacus muscle.

Note that Mr. Slough reports the injury to "tendons" and "both ripped apart". The Iliacus muscle attaches to the Psoas Major muscle.

Iliopsoas_medium

via www.lower-back-pain-answers.com

Both muscles flex the hip joint, bringing the knee towards the chest. The pain expected from a tear to the Iliopsoas group result in the following symptoms:

Lower abdominal pain

Groin pain

Those symptoms are also commonly found in people that have experienced a sports hernia. Here is more of what Mr. Slough had to say:

"Firstly, Slough spoke in detail about the groin injury, suffered in last year’s win against Cleveland, which ended Ratliff’s 2012 campaign. The problem was diagnosed at the time as a sports hernia..."

Mark also added:

"This was not a sports hernia injury. It was never a sports hernia injury,' Slough said. 'Somehow, someway it became characterized that way. Once it became labeled a sports hernia, there became an expectation for his return – a timetable for his return based on the way other people have returned from that. That’s created a lot of mystery and supposition publicly. But it wasn’t a sports hernia."

Obviously, somewhere there was someone (likely a medical professional) that labelled the injury as a sports hernia. While in a similar location, a sports hernia is quite different from what affected Ratliff. Consequently, the treatment for a sports hernia is much different than that for an Iliopsoas tear.

A00573f01_medium

via orthoinfo.aaos.org

A sports hernia is when the abdominal oblique muscles tears from the pubic bone. The adductor tendons (groin muscles) usually also become stretched or torn.

A MRI should have shown the Iliacus muscle tear in most cases.

F4

via ajs.sagepub.com

Jay Ratliff tore his hamstrings muscle group as a result of the conditioning run on the first day of training camp. He has been on PUP since the beginning of the season.

I suspect the errors committed by the medical staff created distrust and alienated Ratliff. The expectations created by the misdiagnosis likely played a large part in the shouting match between Jerry and Jay in the locker room last season. The lack of proper treatment prolonged Jay's recovery.

The ill will and lack of trust (and maybe his DUI) inevitably led to Ratliff's release. It would not be surprising to see Ratliff playing somewhere else next year.

The content of this post is a result of piecing together the facts presented from Mark Slough and not through direct patient contact.

Another user-created commentary provided by a BTB reader.