Pickle Ball Enthusiast

A 54 yo physician in modest physical shape joins a pickle ball organization of mostly retired people. Although a former NCAA tennis player, she has never played pickle ball but joins to spend time with her mother who is an avid, five-times-per-week player. During one of the matches the physician rushes the net and aggressively smashes the ball at her opponent. The senior opponent moves her racket to protect herself, but the racket flies out of her hand across the net towards the physician hitting her on the face with the handle side, approximately one inch below her ear lobe, on the mandible. (Some witnesses observe that the senior opponent has a history of “releasing” her racket when opponents play too aggressively.) The physician coolly states that she is able to continue, asserting “she is fine.” A day later the physician presents to the emergency department because she was unable to wrinkle her forehead on the ipsilateral side when she woke up that morning. The previous evening, she was able to make rounds, albeit with some discomfort, but was not properly able to intimate her students by raising her eyebrows at their answers. The physician is also up for a role in a dramatic scene in a Hollywood movie where she is supposed to wrinkle her forehead while reciting her lines to a fellow actor, a soliloquy by Cassandra. Ironically, the physician had predicted her injury on the pickle ball court a few days earlier. Will this physician still be able to wrinkle her forehead at her audition on the ipsilateral side and what is the best next step in the management of her injury?

I want to thank Lauren Yap, M’ 2024 for inspiration for this question and her thorough discussion on the answer that follows.

What is the answer to the question posed in the stem.

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