A professional basketballer who sustained an open, fracture-free ankle dislocation during a game returned to the court at the top of his game just three months later, Japanese doctors say.

The injury’s rarity — dislocation without accompanying fracture accounts for just 0.46% of ankle dislocations — means there is no consensus on optimal treatment.

But the team at Fukushima Medical University said their conservative approach with “intensive rehabilitation” had merit, particularly in elite-level athletes, for what could be a career-ending injury.

Their 28-year-old patient was injured mid-game due to plantar flexion and inversion of his right ankle “during the transition from dashing to stop motion” and was rushed to hospital.