Shaun Livingston’s challenging NBA career and enduring legacy

The injury

In the 2006- 07 regular season, Livingston seemed to be starting to hit his stride as an NBA player. Livingston was only 21 years old at the beginning of the season and started in 31 of the 54 games that he played averaging 9.5 points and 5.2 assists.

Then, on February 26, 2007, Livington suffered what is widely regarded as one of the worst injuries in NBA history. Coming down awkwardly from a routine lay-up, Livingston tore three of the four major ligaments in his left knee and his lateral meniscus as well as dislocating his patella and breaking a bone in his leg. Video footage of the injury is absolutely gut-wrenching. I wouldn’t recommend viewing for those who are at all squeamish about such things.

It really is horrifying to see and in the moments after the injury, it wasn’t a given that Livingston would ever walk again, much less play basketball. A full appreciation of this injury requires a quick anatomy lesson.

Of course, the various ligament and meniscus tears would require surgery and time to heal but that only covers the most obvious part of this type of injury. There is a large blood vessel at the back of the knee that carries blood supply from the heart all the way down through the leg and to the foot.

The dislocation of the knee can cause this vessel to be pinched off or tear completely, compromising the blood supply to everything below the knee. Muscles without blood flow are unable to work and if blood flow is compromised long enough, the muscle tissue dies.

Time was of the essence because, in the time between the injury and getting to the hospital for scans, there is no way to know if the blood vessel has been compromised. Plus when a knee is dislocated, the muscles begin to tighten up around the dislocated joint and the longer it is out of place, the harder it gets to reduce it, or put it back into place.

Thanks to the quick professional work of the Clippers’ medical staff in putting Livingston’s knee back into place, the possibility of losing the leg altogether was thankfully avoided. However, that was still only the start of a very long road to recovery for the young NBA player. And the rehabilitation necessary wouldn’t be limited to the physical work his knee required but would extend to Livingston’s entire NBA career.