Sports injuries can be very confusing as a fan. After a major injury, team physicians give a report to the manager or team PR person, who gives a quick press conference to the team beat writers, often not giving much more than the name of the injury, and a timetable for a return if they have it. Sports journalists are essentially reporting information third-hand, and when you add in the fact that they (understandably) don't have much of a working medical knowledge, understanding even the basics of an injury can be a quagmire on the fan side.
While you might know me on here as a baseball stats dork, in my day job I'm a medical student with less than a year to go to my MD.