Jackson out indefinitely; playoffs a possibility

Lauren Jackson
Source: http://www.wnba.com

Less than two weeks after suffering a hip injury that took her out of a game against the Tulsa Shock on June 21, Seattle Storm center Lauren Jackson is fresh out of surgery on her left hip labrum and is already working hard to get back out on the court.

Jackson, 30, underwent the three-hour procedure on her left hip last week in Colorado and was doing conditioning on a stationary back just five hours later. She will be working with physical therapists twice a day in order to recuperate as quickly as humanly possible.

The surgery involved a labral repair and the removal of a small bone spur that was part of the condition. It was her second surgery in five months after she underwent an operation on her Achilles tendon in February.

Jackson, a three-time MVP and two-time WNBA champion was in good hands in Colorado with Dr. Marc Philippon of the Steadman Clinic. Philippon had successfully operated on the labral tears of several hundreds of pro athletes prior to Jackson including Alex Rodriguez of the Yankees, among others.

 Jackson said she was already feeling discomfort in the hip prior to the game in Tulsa and had taken a cortisone injection to deal with the pain.

She believes the injury occurred when she got tangled up with seven foot center Liz Cambage of the Shock while defending her. Jackson felt a pop in her hip and asked Coach Brian Agler to be removed from the game a couple plays later. “It’s one of those things where it’s a bit of a scare, and hopefully I haven’t done anything, “said, Jackson as she addressed the media after the game.

The Storm visited the White House two weeks ago in order to meet President Obama and commemorate their 2010 WNBA Championship but due to the surgery, Jackson was unable to attend.

Jackson noted that she was disappointed to miss the trip, writing on Twitter that it would have been “one of the highlights of my life” but realized that going under the knife right away would give her the best shot at getting back in uniform to help her teammates defend their title.

“When we found out how serious this was there was no other option, especially because of the recovery time and actually having the opportunity to come back this season if I had it done straight away. There was no other option in my mind,” said, Jackson.

Due to having the surgery performed in a timely manner and the fact that Jackson is working so hard to get healthy, the estimated down time of 8 to 12 weeks may be able to be shortened. There’s optimism that Jackson could be back in August.

In the meantime, in order to add depth, the Storm announced the signing of 6’4 Polish center/forward Ewelina Kobryn. Kobryn led the Polish National team with 14.7 points and 7.7 rebounds in 2011 EuroBasket competition.

Seattle will play their regular season finale on September 11 with the WNBA playoffs commencing just three days later.

The Storm, at 5-3 (2-1 without Jackson) is currently in third place in the Western Conference. With a good chunk of the season left, Storm fans have to be chomping at the bit to get Jackson back on the floor in order to further ensure another playoff appearance.