As if the pain of lockjaw wasn\u2019t enough to bear for Adelaide Crows player Luke Nankervis, his teammate Josh Rachele has shared the defender\u2019s uncomfortable experience on social media for fans to poke fun at.<\/p>\n
Nankervis, 22, has been included in his side\u2019s travelling squad to to play against Richmond this Saturday at the MCG.<\/p>\n
But on Wednesday, footage of the distressed crow sitting in a hospital waiting room with the bizarre injury was posted to TikTok, inviting fans to speculate as to how it occurred.<\/p>\n
\u201cPOV: your friend gets locked jaw at 12am,\u201d Rachele captioned the post.<\/p>\n
In the 17-second clip, Nankervis appears to be in some degree of discomfort but is still able to see the humour in his condition as sad piano music plays over the footage.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe pasta was a little too al dente,\u201d one person suggested.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow does this happen \u2014 vigorous teeth brushing?\u201d another asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cLong yawn,\u201d one more said.<\/p>\n
With another teasing: \u201cBetter hope there\u2019s no flys around.\u201d<\/p>\n
Acknowledging the embarrassing post, Nankervis commented, \u201cBloody heck\u201d.<\/p>\n
Some fans empathised with the defender, sharing their personal experiences with the condition in solidarity.<\/p>\n
\u201cOMG this recently happened to me… & I had to be out under with a resuss team on standby, all from a fricken yawn… I wish it was a more exciting story! It\u2019s awful & I felt so stupid. Hope your pain isn\u2019t too bad!\u201d one person said.<\/p>\n
![\"ADELAIDE,](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/f87f9981f80d0d9029ae67aa492ff6266127ab4d.jpg\")
Camera IconADELAIDE, AUSTRALIA – APRIL 18: Lance Collard of the Saints tackled by Luke Nankervis of the Crows during the round six AFL match between Adelaide Crows and St Kilda Saints at Adelaide Oval, on April 18, 2026, in Adelaide, Australia. (Photo by Mark Brake\/Getty Images) Credit: Mark Brake\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
Nankervis has played three games this season, and 34 in his career after debuting in 2023.<\/p>\n
Neither he nor Rachele have since confirmed how the lockjaw occurred.<\/p>\n
Also known as trismus, lockjaw is a condition that makes the muscles and nerves in the jaw spasm, leading to difficulty opening or moving the mouth.<\/p>\n
The three leading causes behind it are tetanus, inflammation of the soft tissue, and TMJ disorder, though other injuries or infections can also induce the condition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As if the pain of lockjaw wasn\u2019t enough to bear for Adelaide Crows player Luke Nankervis, his teammate…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7055,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[395,77,152,2004,261],"class_list":{"0":"post-7054","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-adelaide","8":"tag-adelaide","9":"tag-afl","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-offbeat","12":"tag-sport"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7054","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7054"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7054\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7055"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}