A bowel injury is not an everyday event on the football field, and is apparently as unpleasant as it sounds. Arkansas tailback/returner Dennis Johnson suffered such an injury when he fell and landed on the ball during the Razorbacks’ game against Louisiana-Monroe. The pain had Johnson throwing up on the sideline, and he eventually required surgery:
Arkansas’ Dennis Johnson Suffers ‘Bowel Injury’
“... When he came off the field, our strength and conditioning coach, (Jason) Veltkamp said he talked about falling on the ball and landing on the ball. Initially thought it was a rib injury. But that was not the case. When we were out on the field, in the locker room, toward the end of the game, he started throwing up and then they knew it wasn’t a rib injury and got him to the hospital.”
Also of grave concern to Arkansas fans is the apparent lack of a timetable for Johnson’s return:
"We're not even thinking about timetables for his return right now," [Bobby] Petrino said. "We're just thinking about his health. Hopefully he'll improve. He's doing well. He was up walking, they've got him up walking. He's very, very sore from the surgery. We're encouraged by everything the doctors are telling us on how he's doing health wise."
To put his condition in even harsher perspective, Johnson's case is now being referred to as the "new worst football injury":
Now, it should be noted that technically, any part of the large intestine could be considered the “bowel,” and the large intestine stretches higher than the waistline. So that, combined with the fact that the S&C coach thought it was a rib injury (there’s no ribs down there, after all), could mean that Johnson’s injury was far removed from the worst imaginable place to receive an injury.
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