Jackie Chan Injuries #1
It is common knowledge that Jackie Chan performs his own stunts.
In fact, he holds the Guiness World record for the most stunts performed by a living
actor. With a career that spans nearly six decades in the action adventure genre and
over 200 films to his credit, this fearless decision has earned him more than a few injuries.
Jackie has said in the past that he’s not superhuman - that he DOES get scared before
a big stunt - but after examining three or four of his worst injuries sustained on set,
I can’t be sure that he isn’t an ACTUAL superhero.
Rumble In The Bronx, 1995. Jackie Chan jumps from a bridge to a moving hovercraft and breaks
his ankle upon landing. He was taken off set on a stretcher to have the injury assessed.
The injury was put in a cast, but that didn’t stop him from completing his filming duties
without significant delay, as he wore a covering that appeared like a shoe over his cast.
Now it is hard to know what type of ankle fracture he had, but if he was able to continue
weightbearing in a cast disguised as a shoe, I would suspect that he had suffered a non-displaced
fracture that did not alter the ankle mortise. The mortise is the stable joint that is formed
where the tibia and fibula articulate with the talus. Fractures that do not affect the
position of the mortise can potentially allow weightbearing if the fracture fragments are
supported by a cast. This might include fracture types such as a Weber A or Weber C fractures.
Displaced Weber B ankle fractures, or multi-fragmentary ankle fractures would likely be unstable and
would not allow weightbearing, even in a weightbearing cast.
As you might have guessed, I would not suggest returning to filming the same stunt… while
wearing a cast for the injury you sustained performing said stunt earlier in the filming
process.
According to filmmaker Quinten Terrantino, Police Story 3 has some of “the greatest
stunts ever filmed in any movie ever.” This scene is from the end credits of that movie:
Jackie was supposed to move out of the way of the incoming helicopter. He was unable
to do so and the vehicle clipped him, ripping up his shoulder muscles and breaking his cheekbone.
In this incident, Jackie is struck from the rear by the passing helicopter. Although he
is struck by only a glancing blow, the helicopter is passing with enough speed to knock Jackie
completely sideways. Had he not been secured to the pipe from which he was hanging, he
would have been thrown clear of the pipe. With this form of blunt impact, we could expect
that Jackie might suffer posterior rib fractures. We could also expect that his right shoulder
might be seriously injured. A sudden impact from behind, would force the arm to swing
backward as the trunk and the shoulder were pushed forward by the helicopter. Sudden abduction
of the arm away from the body in this manner could result in a subluxation (partial dislocation),
or even a dislocation of the shoulder. Either way, the labral tissue within the shoulder
that centres the humerus head on the glenoid, or cup of the shoulder, would likely be injured.
Although less likely than a labral injury, his rotator cuff muscles could also be damaged.
Since it is possible for boxers and mixed martial artists to suffer mandible and maxilla
fractures simply from strikes to their faces, it should come as no surprise that a sudden
blow to the face by a passing helicopter might result in these injuries to Jackie as well.
This could include fracture patterns such as Le Fort fractures, zygomatic complex fractures,
or orbital fractures. If undisplaced, these types of fractures might not require operative
fixation. However, if displaced open reduction and internal fixation with stabilization plates
and screws would be required, and could result in permanent dysfunction relating to sight,
smell, or occlusion.
On the set of Armor of God II, released in the year 1991, Jackie dislocated his sternum
in an injury sustained while trying to swing from one platform to another from a long chain.
Swinging from a long chain is quite difficult and obviously Jackie slipped.
The sternum is a structure that connects the anterior ribs to one another in a semi-rigid
manner to create a flexible cage in which the heart, lungs, and major vessel are contained.
The ribs are connected to the sternum by cartilage articulations at sternocostal joints, and
the sternum is stabilized between the ribs by its attachment to the clavicles, at the
two sternoclavicular joints above. Dislocation of the sternum would require failure of several
of the articulations, either at the sternocostal joints, the sternoclavicular joints, or both.
With an impact from the front, we would anticipate that the sternum would be dislocated posteriorly,
or in other words, pushed backwards into the chest. The mediastinum is the space that is
located in the middle of the chest, behind the sternum. The mediastinum contains the
heart, aorta, esophagus, thymus, trachea, lymph nodes and some nerves. Dislocation of
the sternum is generally not desirable, and if severe, can cause injury to any one of
the structures located behind it. This would be bad. The mediastinum is generally considered
to be no man’s land, or tiger country, meaning that we really prefer not to be there. Surgery
in this area is complex and risky so we try to avoid it when possible. Reduction of dislocations
is ideally performed in a closed manner, but may require a formal incision for open reduction
if it is not reducible otherwise. Stabilization, however, is even more problematic. Since the
ribcage is an expandable structure, rigid fixation is not indicated here, since it would
limit the ability of the ribcage to expand when breathing. Rigid fixation with plates
and screws would need to be temporary in nature and removed after the cartilage articulation
had healed. Typically, the sternum is stabilzed with more compliant fixation, like circlage
wires which would allow movement and would preserve the ability of the ribcage to expand
and contract.
Now by this point in the video, you know Jackie is no stranger to danger- but there are some
stunts that you can’t really prepare for. In Project A, released in 1993, Jackie swings
from the hands of a clock tower approximately 60 feet off the ground. Apparently his father
was an extra on the set at the time and every day for 6 days warned his son not to attempt
the stunt. Ultimately Jackie decided to “just do it” not once, but twice in order to capture
a take he was happy with.
Sure, the cloth awnings do a little bit to break Jackie’s momentum, but not enough.
Jackie sustained injuries to the cervical spine while performing this stunt, and has
mentioned chronic neck pain since the incident. Honestly he can count himself lucky: it could
have been much worse. Although we do not have the exact details of his injury, here’s
what we can infer from the footage:
Jackie fell through several awnings which caused him to rotate in the air. Although
the speed of falling was reduced significantly with the awnings, the rotation turned him
upside down so that he struck the last awning head first. After falling through this awning
he subsequently hit the ground, again, head first. With the impact with the last awning,
Jackie’s head was flexed forward. This mechanism might result in a flexion injury of the cervical
spine which could include cervical disc protrusions, cervical disc herniations, flexion tear drop
fractures, fracture dislocations of the cervical spine, or ligamentous injuries of the posterior
ligaments of the cervical spine. But as jackie is not one to shy away from injury, he immediately
follows this with a headfirst collision with the ground with his neck extended posteriorly.
This mechanism, by itself, might result in extension injuries of the cervical spine which
could include extension tear drop fractures, various fractures of the first and second
vertebrae, dislocations of the cervical spine, and infrequent laminar fractures. In combination
with a flexion injury of the cervical spine, this fall could result in a complex, combined
injury pattern. To be honest, there is a significant likelihood of neurologic injury and possibly
even death after this type of impact from a height. Clearly, we can see that there was
not any significant neurologic injury, since Jackie was able to stand and move all four
extremities independently. However, lack of neurologic injury does not preclude other
structural injuries which could result in persistent pain or immobility of the cervical
spine. As jackie noted, he has suffered from chronic neck pain after this injury, so it
is likely that he suffered an injury to the stabilizing ligaments, the intervertebral
discs, or the facet joints of the cervical spine. Suffice it to say, action hero or not,
it is not recommended that you land on your head with all your bodyweight. Usually, it's
a recipe for disaster.
Jackie Chan is currently 67 years old and to this day does his own stunts. He is either
very lucky, or very freaking lucky… And so are we, to have access to all his recorded
works. I have incredible respect for this man and his dedication to his craft. I just
hope that his current stunt endeavors are a little more tame.
Thanks for watching, I will see you for rounds next week. And as always, that’s been a
word from Dr. Chris, not your everyday ortho.