Ankle

The last man to take a horse to Belmont with a chance to snag the elusive final gem in the Triple Crown has some advice for Doug O'Neill. Stay true to the horse. "I think trainers going around asking other people what they should do, looking for how to handle it, that's stupid," Rick Dutrow, trainer of Big Brown in 2008, said in a phone interview Sunday. "It's got to be about your horse. Whatever anybody else did doesn't matter. You know your horse. " O'Neill, trainer of Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner I'll Have Another, has already disregarded common wisdom over the past three weeks.

North County wrestler Lorenzo Maddox, competing in the 285-pound weight class, won the Middle Atlantic States Wrestling Association (MAWA) High School Elite Division of the Eastern National Wrestling Championships. He is the first North County wrestler to win the tournament, only the third Maryland high school heavyweight to win the tournament and the fourth Anne Arundel County wrestler to win the tournament in any of the 14 weight classes, according to information released by the school.

Forgive my absence from these pages, but I recently suffered a dislocated fracture of my ankle while saving a kitten from a speeding car. The bad news is, it required reconstructive surgery and I have to spend the next six weeks on my butt. The good news is, Christina Applegate will be playing me in the Hallmark made-for-TV movie about my heroic self-sacrifice. There is nothing like a broken ankle to help you realize that just about everyone you know has had one. And, like the doctor said after asking me how it happened, broken ankles are boring, but the stories behind them never are. Hence the kitten tale, which I made up. The truth is I slipped on the kitchen floor, but that is too boring to repeat.

Ravens outside linebacker injured his Achilles tendon during a workout last week and is expected to miss most - if not all - of the 2012 season. Suggs, the 2011 NFL Defensive Player of the Year, is scheduled to see a foot specialist in North Carolina next week to determine the extent of the injury. Dr. Lew Schon, the chief of foot and ankle surgery at Union Memorial Hospital, discussed, in general terms, what the surgery and recovery from such an injury entails. How serious is a torn Achilles tendon for an NFL player?

Of the few injury concerns for the Ravens, the largest was the status of Ed Reed's left ankle, which the free safety landed awkwardly on while making his fourth and final pass breakup in Sunday's 20-13 victory over the Houston Texans in an AFC divisional playoff game. Coach John Harbaugh provided a positive update on Reed's ankle during his weekly news conference. “Ed looks like he's all right with the ankle,” Harbaugh said. “Everything's come up OK as far as the X-rays.” Harbaugh said inside linebackers Jameel McClain (sprained left knee)

Cory Redding had his right ankle heavily taped and was absent from the portion of Wednesday's practice open to the media. But as far as the Ravens defensive end is concerned, he intends to play against the Cleveland Browns on Christmas Eve. “Rest is the biggest thing, but right now, it's 2:38 [p.m.] on Wednesday. So right now, my mindset is to get my ankle in the best shape that I can before Saturday, and let the chips fall where they may,” Redding said. “For the most part, my mindset is I'm playing.

Wide receiver Lee Evans was able to get through only two games before his cranky left ankle sent him to the sideline in Week 3. Whether he resurfaces on Sunday against the Houston Texans or not should give us a better read on his availability this season. Evans, an eight-year veteran, came to the Ravens in a training camp trade. He is the deep threat the team has lacked during Joe Flacco's time in Baltimore. After making some big plays in the preseason and in Week 2, he's having trouble getting back on the field.

A logjam at tight end has suddenly turned into a void, creating a bit of a concern for the Ravens. Starter Todd Heap injured his right ankle in the third quarter of Sunday's 48-3 rout of the Detroit Lions, and backup L.J. Smith has missed the past two games with an ankle injury of his own. If that duo can't play Sunday against the Chicago Bears, that would leave the Ravens with Edgar Jones and converted offensive lineman...

TREAT A SPRAINED ANKLE right and you can be on your feet in a few days and back in action in a few weeks. A severe or mistreated sprain, however, may not heal for six months or more. The first goal is to limit internal bleeding and cut down on the swelling. There are four classic steps to a quick and successful recovery, dubbed RICE:* REST. Get off your feet immediately. A sprain's intense pain eases after a few minutes, tempting you to keep walking or playing. Hours later you may find yourself with a swollen, discolored ankle too sore to stand on. Stay off the ankle until the swelling stabilizes (crutches may be necessary for a day or two)

Baltimore County Executive C. A. Dutch Ruppersberger III, heading to the hospital soon for surgery, will be off his feet for weeks -- but not off the job for long, if he has his way.Ruppersberger is scheduled to enter Johns Hopkins Hospital on Friday for an operation to reconstruct his right ankle and repair ruptured tendons."

As a certified athletic trainer at Archbishop Spalding, T.J. Morgan considers himself fortunate. He has never had to deal with a catastrophic situation in 14 years of administering to Cavaliers student-athletes. Such situations are rare, but should he face one, Morgan, like dozens of other trainers working in high schools all over the Baltimore area, is prepared. "The educational competencies for athletic trainers are changing and there's a greater concept of emergency management, of recognizing emergency situations and being able to act accordingly," said Morgan, who is also the president of the Maryland Athletic Trainers Association.

A plan to build UMBC's defense around the return of two starters was nearly derailed in the fall. Junior Sam McKelvey, who accumulated 16 ground balls and four caused turnovers in 11 games (eight starts) last season, underwent ankle surgery in the fall. Such an operation would usually require months of rehabilitation, but not for the Davidsonville native and South River graduate. “[W]e thought we lost him for the year after ankle surgery,” coach Don Zimmerman said Wednesday.

So many questions await Buster Posey this spring. They hover in the air like a series of foul pops, subject to the whims of wind and spin. Will his repaired left ankle respond when he hops out of his crouch to throw? How will it feel when he wakes up the following day? Will his timing at the plate be an issue after the longest layoff of his baseball life? Will he be the ebullient rookie of the year who led the Giants to a World Series title in 2010? Or will Posey's career be more about concessions than celebrations?

Forgive my absence from these pages, but I recently suffered a dislocated fracture of my ankle while saving a kitten from a speeding car. The bad news is, it required reconstructive surgery and I have to spend the next six weeks on my butt. The good news is, Christina Applegate will be playing me in the Hallmark made-for-TV movie about my heroic self-sacrifice. There is nothing like a broken ankle to help you realize that just about everyone you know has had one. And, like the doctor said after asking me how it happened, broken ankles are boring, but the stories behind them never are. Hence the kitten tale, which I made up. The truth is I slipped on the kitchen floor, but that is too boring to repeat.

The Ravens produced a near-perfect injury report Thursday as free safety Ed Reed was the only player listed. The eight-time Pro Bowler was limited in practice for the second straight day by the left ankle injury he sustained in the waning seconds of the team's 20-13 win against the Houston Texans in Sunday's AFC divisional playoff round. The New England Patriots, the Ravens' opponent in Sunday's AFC championship game, released a lengthy injury report headlined by the return of quarterback Tom Brady.

Every Ravens player on the active roster was present for Thursday's practice. Free safety Ed Reed, the team's lone injury concern for Sunday's AFC championship game against the New England Patriots, participated in drills despite his injured left ankle.

The sound of anxious silence swept over Oriole Park last night when Cal Ripken limped into second on a sixth-inning double.For a moment, it appeared that Ripken, who turned his right ankle rounding first, might have to leave the ballgame, and perhaps even see his 1,712 consecutive-game streak come to an end.But after he was tended to on the field by Orioles trainer Richie Bancells, Ripken declared himself ready for play, and looked healthy as he rounded third...

Washington Bullets coach Wes Unseld held a private workout in San Antonio yesterday morning to determine whether rookie guard LaBradford Smith was ready to come off the injured list.But Smith was still favoring the left ankle that he first sprained in a pickup game in Houston in late September before he was due to report to training camp.Because the injury has taken so long to respond to rest and therapy, the Bullets will have their No. 1 draft choice examined today by Rudy Ellis, the team doctor at the University of Louisville, which Smith attended.

Of the few injury concerns for the Ravens, the largest was the status of Ed Reed's left ankle, which the free safety landed awkwardly on while making his fourth and final pass breakup in Sunday's 20-13 victory over the Houston Texans in an AFC divisional playoff game. Coach John Harbaugh provided a positive update on Reed's ankle during his weekly news conference. “Ed looks like he's all right with the ankle,” Harbaugh said. “Everything's come up OK as far as the X-rays.” Harbaugh said inside linebackers Jameel McClain (sprained left knee)

By the end of last week, Ravens cornerback Lardarius Webb was hearing teammate Ed Reed's voice in his sleep. If it wasn't Reed critiquing Webb's technique or positioning, it was him giving pointers about dealing with Houston Texans wide receiver Andre Johnson , Reed's college teammate at the University of Miami. "He was on me all week," Webb said. "Sometimes I'm mad and I want to curse him out, want to tell him, 'Get off my back.' But it all pays off during the week.