 Curse Reversed? Some Impromptu Suturing May Have Helped. (link will expire in a few days)
(Image courtesy of YankeesSuck.com)
The Boston Globe (which normally archives their stories, removing them from their Web site after 3 days) sports section relates a story about the impromptu procedure for stabilizing the ruptured peroneus brevis tendon, in the back of Curt Schilling's right foot. After this injury which occurred during Game 1 of the ACLS, Schilling's pitching motion was affected by a painful snapping sensation cause by the loose tendon. Permanent repair would require a 3-month recuperation period. But obviously this wouldn't help the series.
The general manager, Theo Epstein vowed that he would search for "every medical technique under the sun to try to get his tendon stabilized." After trying different external stabilizers which didn't do the job, a novel technique was suggested:
Enter Sox medical director Bill Morgan, who recommended a novel approach in concert with the team's training staff. Why not suture the skin around the dislocated tendon down to the deep tissue and effectively create an artificial sheath that would seal the tendon in place?
After some tests on human cadaver legs, they decided to perform this procedure on Kurt:
On Monday, Morgan and three assistants, working in a sterile back room at Fenway Park, applied a local anesthetic to Schilling's ankle. Then they stitched. A "few" sutures, threaded through skin and the tissue beneath the skin, were placed in between the groove and the loose tendon, according to Morgan. This created a tiny wall of flesh that kept the tendon in place -- about 2 centimeters outside its groove.
I don't know if this will induce more ball clubs to do these "sterile back room" procedures, but Schilling went on to pitch a memorable game which would eventually lead to baseball history.
Not to be nitpicky about infection control, but in the Nov. issue of the esteemed medical periodical Men's Health, there's a story about methicillin-resistant staph aureus (MRSA) spread in the locker room. It mentions a 21-year old athlete who develop fulminant septicemia and died secondary to what started as a small boil on his skin.
UPDATE: from the Men's Health article:
Last year, several members of the Miami Dolphins, including star linebacker Junior Seau and kickoff-return ace Charlie Rogers, were infected with MRSA. Seau and Rogers had to be hospitalized, as did Tampa Bay Buccaneer Kenyatta Walker and the Cleveland Browns' Ben Taylor, who neede an emergency operation to beat the infection.
3:02:57 PM 
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