Four or five years ago, I worked on a story about pitching's impact on kids in youth leagues. One doctor detailed his theories as to why there has been a dramatic rise in reconstructive elbow surgeries. First and foremost, he said, was that some kids were not throwing properly and were throwing too much.
The second reason he gave -- and this is the one that really jumped out -- the medical science is improving, so elbow problems are diagnosed more frequently. Again:
More elbow problems are diagnosed because the medicine is better. On the face of it, this might seem counterintuitive, but when you think harder, it makes all the sense in the world.
It's something worth remembering as questions arise about the sudden rash of players getting treated for hip injuries (
Chase Utley,
Mike Lowell,
A-Rod,
Alex Gordon,
Carlos Delgado, etc.) and the spat of players being diagnosed with anxiety disorder (such as
Dontrelle Willis and, more recently,
Khalil Greene).
In the past, a hitter with a sore hip might have simply moved ahead while struggling. So many former players have needed hip replacements. For years, I'd see longtime outfielder
Merv Rettenmund struggling to move around the batting cage as he did his work. Five or six years ago, he had a hip replaced and talked about how much that surgery eased his discomfort.
But hip problems are being diagnosed more often and treated more effectively, and Utley, Lowell and A-Rod have returned relatively quickly to be great again.
When Willis was placed on the disabled list near the end of spring training, eyebrows throughout the game were arched about the anxiety diagnosis. I'm not going to pretend to know what is in Willis' medical file, what precisely he was treated for and how he was treated. But Willis is back and is better, and so is
Zack Greinke, who was treated three years ago for a similar problem.
For years, players who felt symptoms related to anxiety probably just did nothing and said nothing. And maybe if they had said something, nothing would've been done, given the clubhouse culture in baseball. Now, symptoms can be treated because medicine has improved.
Greene, for one, is
searching for balance, writes Joe Strauss.
Moves, deals and decisions
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Buster Olney
