Tua Tagovailoa dislocates hip: On the anatomy and recovery of his injury

Heisman hopeful Tua Tagovailoa is done for the season. Here’s a look at the anatomy and recovery timeline of femoroacetabular dislocations.

Everything was going as planned for Alabama and their star quarterback Tua Tagovailoa on Saturday. The Crimson Tide were thoroughly handling the Mississippi State Bulldogs when the unthinkable happened just prior to halftime.

Tagovailoa, pressured by two Bulldog defenders, was scampering out to his left when the injury occurred. Just after releasing the ball, the Alabama quarterback was hit from behind and landed forcefully on his right hip. Tagovailoa was carted off the field, visibly in pain, and was later flown to a local hospital via helicopter for further testing.

Aaron Suttles, who covers Alabama for The Athletic, reported after the game that Tagovailoa’s season is over secondary to a dislocated hip.

The hip, scientifically known as the femoroacetabular joint, is a very stable ball-and-socket joint and isn’t dislocated easily. The stability of the hip joint is maintained by both soft tissue structures (four ligaments and one labrum) as well as its bony configuration; the four ligaments are the liofemoral ligament, ischiofemoral ligament, pubofemoral ligament, and ligamentum teres.

Approximately 90 percent of hip dislocations occur in a posterior (or backward) direction, much like Tagovailoa. It isn’t uncommon for athletes to suffer concomitant posterior acetabular rim fractures when the hip is dislocated due to the femoral head being forcefully jammed against the structure; the acetabulum is the socket and the femoral head is the ball in “ball-and-socket” joint.

The main concern with hip dislocations involves the vasculature surrounding the femoral head. If the vasculature is damaged and unable to be stabilized the bone may, in essence, die, which is known as either avascular necrosis or osteonecrosis. This is the injury that multisport star Bo Jackson suffered in 1991 that forced him out of the NFL.

Supposing that the vasculature remains uncompromised or is able to be sufficiently addressed surgically, the rehabilitation process remains rather long and difficult. Surgery is usually completed as soon as possible if it is deemed necessary and the athlete is confined to crutches for a number of weeks.

In all, it takes a minimum of 2-3 months to recover from this injury.

This is obviously a debilitating injury for Tagovailoa as well as the Crimson Tide. Tagovailoa was in the running for the Heisman trophy and was thought of by many as being a potential top-five pick during the 2020 NFL Draft. How this injury impacts Tagovailoa’s draft status and career moving forward remains to be seen, but at this time, that is the least of his concerns.