This wasn’t the update Olivia Dunne or LSU fans wanted. After battling knee issues all season, the star gymnast took to Instagram on March 6 with tough news, which read, “Hi friends! Unfortunately, I’ve been dealing with an avulsion fracture of my patella and will not be able to compete on senior night.” The culprit? An avulsion fracture of her patella, an injury that pulls a piece of bone away from the kneecap. Dunne hasn’t competed since Jan. 24, and now, the clock is ticking. Three months? Six? Could she make it back for the NCAAs? The uncertainty is brutal. And now, her coach has an update.
Jay Clark gave an update on Olivia Dunne’s injury during a pre-match conference ahead of the Tigers’ regular-season finale in Auburn on Friday, March 14. “It’s about her pain.” He added, “It’s an unusual injury—I had to look it up. I didn’t even know what the retinaculum in the knee was.”
Discussing Dunne’s condition, he explained, “Generally speaking….the little avulsion fracture she has… She and I were talking about it yesterday. That kind of injury usually happens to people in car accidents or after some sort of blunt force trauma.” He continued, “But she can’t recall anything like that. It’s an extremely unusual situation, and it just hurts.”
Acknowledging the difficulty, he said, “She can force herself to function with it, but it’s very painful. The challenge is figuring out—how do we get her comfortable?” On her recovery approach, he shared, “So we shut her down and immobilized it, trying to let it calm down. I think there’s been some progress.” Remaining hopeful, he noted, “I still remain cautiously optimistic that she could return, at least on bars. But it’s just hard to say.” Looking ahead, he added, “We’ve got another follow-up this week, and we’re monitoring it closely, turning over every rock we can to get her in a place where she feels comfortable.”
The story is developing!!
The post ‘Extremely Unusual’: Olivia Dunne’s Coach Clark Provides Crucial Update on Gymnastics Star’s Injury appeared first on EssentiallySports.
