Why Zion Williamson Will Miss 6 To 8 Weeks After Knee Surgery

Wait for it. Wait for it.

That's what everyone will have to do to see Zion Williamson's much anticipated NBA regular season debut. As ESPN's Rachel Nichols tweeted out, the career of the New Orleans Pelicans forward will be set a bit backwards:

So you won't be seeing plays like these from Williamson for about a month-and-a-half to two months:

That's because the 6'7", 284-pound rookie tore his right meniscus and apparently just got surgery for the tear. If you are trying to find your meniscus in the mirror, you won't, because it's in your knee, right between your thigh bone, otherwise known as your femur, and your shin bone, otherwise known as your tibia.

Meniscus rhymes with "kiss kiss" but these words should never ever be confused with each other. A meniscus is a C-shaped piece of cartilage in your knee that serve as padding or shock absorbers. That's why you don't land with a thud when you are in an aggressive River Dancing dance-off with someone. Typically, you are born with two menisci in each of your knees, a lateral one (closer to the outside side of your knee) and a medial one (closer to the inside side of your knee).

These menisci are tough and rubbery but can become stiffer and stiffer with age, making them more and more likely to tear when you plant your foot and twist your knee. Before the age of 30, meniscal injuries tend to occur in sports that involve rapid pivoting like basketball and football. However, as you go beyond age 30, it gets increasingly likely that less intense motions may result in tears. So, depending on your situation, you may want to be careful with sudden changes in direction when you are squatting on really low toilet. In fact, when you have a degenerative joint condition like osteoarthritis, you may not even need much of a twisting notion to tear the cartilage.

How can you tell if you've torn your meniscus? Well, there may be pain, especially when twisting or rotating your knee. Swelling may be present. You can get stiffness in your knee even to the point where it is locking in place or can't be fully straightened. Another possible clue is a popping sensation.

Your doctor may suspect a meniscal tear through a physical exam but may need an MRI to confirm the injury. Typically your doctor will first try to manage such a tear conservatively, which has nothing to do with politics, but instead means using RICE. If you try to stand in a tub of rice, that's not what RICE means. RICE is an acronym for rest, ice, compression, and elevation. Compressing your knee with an ACE bandage and keeping your foot elevated can help decrease the swelling. Physical therapy can strengthen the muscles around your knee and get your knee joint moving fully again. Anti-inflammatory medications are often used as well.

However, should conservative treatment not work, as was probably the case with Williamson, the next option is surgery. This can be either repairing the tear using stitches (meniscus repair) or shaving off the piece of cartilage that is sticking out of place (a meniscectomy).

The University of Michigan offers a recovery timetable for each type of surgery:

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• Bearing weight: Right away, as tolerated for meniscectomy and right away, but only with a brace, for meniscus repair.
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• Walking without crutches: 2 to 7 days for meniscectomy and 4 to 6 weeks for meniscus repair.
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• Driving: 1 to 2 weeks for meniscectomy and 4 to 6 weeks for meniscus repair.
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• Regaining full range of motion: 1 to 2 weeks for meniscectomy and 4 to 6 weeks for meniscus repair (prior to that bending is typically restricted to not more than 90 degrees to allow the repair to heal).
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• Returning to heavy work or sports: 4 to 6 weeks for meniscectomy and 3 to 6 months for meniscus repair.

If Williamson is supposed to return in six to eight weeks, then he must have gotten a meniscectomy rather than a repair. This will allow him to come back sooner but may put him at greater risk for another injury and arthritis in the future. After all, when you shave off cartilage, you have less of it to serve as padding. While his injury is not as bad as other possible knee injuries such as a tear of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), the concern expressed on this ESPN segment is whether he will face more subsequent knee problems:

So while Williamson has gotten a Zion's share of attention since he was drafted number one by the Pelicans, he will remain sidelined until at least December. However, if his physical therapy and recovery go well, this Pelican will certain get top billing when he returns to the court. The Pelicans and Williamson's medical staff just have to make sure that they have both the short-term and long-term in mind when taking care of the knees of the potentially most exciting rookie since someone named LeBron reached the NBA.