Toronto Star reports on Toronto Maple Leaf's Ryan O'Reilly's recovery after breaking his left index finger and why it might take longer than four weeks for him to return. 

According to Michelle G. Carlson, MD, hand and upper extremity surgeon at HSS, it takes three to four weeks for a shattered bone to heal and up to six weeks for the architecture around the bone to heal. 

“The bone itself heals in about four weeks, in most cases, but that doesn’t mean you’re going to be 100 per cent in four weeks,” said Dr. Carlson. “There can often be an injury to the other structures that take even longer to heal than the bone to heal. There are tendons in that area. There are ligaments. All of those structures sometimes have to heal, or have to get moving again, and can have stiffness or scarring. So that’s all part of the healing process.”

Read the full article at thestar.com.