LUCKLESS Carlton defender Simon White has revealed a failed LARS ligament is behind his latest extended period on the sidelines.

White, 23, had surgery to repair the medial ligament in a knee in the off-season, but required further surgery to the same knee after re-injuring the ligament in the second round of the VFL season.

As part of that surgery, an artificial LARS (Ligament Augmentation & Reconstruction System) ligament was implanted to assist the healing of the natural ligament, but White said his body did not accept it.
 
"I had a LARS ligament put in there along with my medial ligament ... they put [that] in a lot with ACLs, but they have some benefits with medial ligaments as well," White told carltonfc.com.au.

"I had one of those put in about eight weeks ago and unfortunately about three weeks ago I had to have it taken out because my body actually rejected it.

"Out of that [my return] got put back a little bit, but with it being in there it actually strengthened my medial ligament right up. It's very strong at the moment and I'm back running, which is good.

"I'm back jogging at the moment and I'll start doing 200m [sprints] at the end of the week.

"I'm looking forward to getting back to playing, but I'm not sure when that will be. It's a bit of a fight between me, the doc and [high performance manager Justin Cordy]."  

White was expected to start pushing for a return by about round 12 of the AFL season when he underwent the surgery, but he is now listed as being eight weeks away on the club's most recent injury list.

Leading AFL medical expert Dr Peter Larkins said while it was not uncommon for LARS ligaments to be used in this manner, White was unlucky to have suffered an adverse reaction.

"The LARS is generally accepted as being a good thing to supplement natural tissue - that's why it exists in the marketplace," Dr Larkins said.

"But it can be rejected when the body realises it's not a natural part of itself - that's the risk with any synthetic materials that are put into the body.

"The body will create inflammation around the LARS tissue, it will try and dislodge it from the body or it won't allow the stitches to take.

"It's rare for it to be rejected, so he's had a complication that is not expected, but it does occur from time to time unfortunately."

White has struggled to get a clear run with injury since he came to the club as a rookie ahead of the 2010 season and has managed just 12 AFL games in that time.

Click here to listen to Simon White discussing his LARS complications.