June 13, 2011
URBAN ARCHIVE
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Mychael Urban
CSNBayArea.comWord that an MRI on Freddy Sanchezs right shoulder confirmed the original diagnosis of dislocation, along with damage to the labrum and shoulder capsule, was the good news.Players who have suffered similar injuries have come back in as little as three weeks.That the issue forces everyone to confront the always-difficult dilemma of rehab vs. surgery is bad news.Hey, its been a good newsbad news season for the Giants since spring training, so why stop now?
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Heres the problem: dislocations very often set the stage for subsequent dislocations. You can strengthen everything that might give way to a recurrence all you want, but second basemen dive. They leap. They contort. They stretch. They often have large, fast men bearing down on them . They make a high number of throws that require every ounce of their strength.
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And then they swing heavy, wooden sticks at spheres hurtled toward them at high speeds. Those swings aloneas well as the aforementioned defensive actscan do damage. When such swings meet said spheres, the impact can jolt a less-than-sturdy shoulder in extremely painful ways.Rehab vs. surgery. The former might get Sanchez back on the field faster, but the latter has a far better chance of preventing recurrence. Of sticking, so to speak.
REWIND: Sanchez to rehab, put off season-ending surgery
Sanchez and the Giants have decided to go the rehab route for now, though a second opinion from the doc who performed surgery on Sanchezs left shoulder might change that. The first step is getting Sanchez out of a sling, out of pain. Thereafter, the Giants will see if they can avoid surgery. Theyll put Sanchez through some perfunctory paces, see what he can handle and what he cant. Best-case scenario, he gradually works his way back.The worst-case scenario, though, is not that they discover he needs the surgery thats already been discussed. Its that theyll have wasted two or weeks of recovery time from surgery before he actually gets it, and what if thats the difference between Sanchez playing late this season and not?Were all aware of Sanchezs health history with the Giants. A fast healer he is not. The rehab route appears risky, to say the least.
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