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David Wright's career will end on Saturday as he faces the New York Mets, the only organization he has known since 2001, for the last time. Spinal injuries with hamstring and shoulder problems force the 35-year-old, who has not played in an MLB game since 2016, to retire early. (Although he has never used the word retirement.)
"Physically, the way I feel right now and all the doctors have said, there will be no improvement," Wright said at a press conference at the mid-September. After years of surgery and physical therapy, the captain of the team and the third baseman concluded that it was all for him.
Wright, one of the best players of all time franchise, suffers from spinal stenosis, a narrowing of the spinal canal, revealed in 2015. "If you think of a tube of water" , Charla Fischer, MD, associate professor of orthopedics Surgery at the center of NYU's spine in Langone states that "the stenosis of the spine is the crease in the water tube or the crease in the pipe".
The degenerative disease is usually seen in older men and women, not an athlete at the peak of his career, and a return was always unclear. Wright was determined to bounce back, but it never materialized.
Dr. Fischer points out exactly what spinal stenosis is, how it is cured, which made Wright's return so difficult and if he ever hopes to return to the field.
What is spinal stenosis, the disease that has come to an end David WrightCareer in the Hall of Fame?
Spinal stenosis is a narrowing of the spinal canal. It usually occurs in the neck (cervical spine) and lower back (lumbar spine), two areas in which Wright has sustained injury in recent years.
"If you think of a water tube," says Fischer, "the stenosis of the spine is the crease in the tube of water or crease in the pipe .The signals are fine, and as it begins to have less and less space and nerves get stuck in this area, they open lower. "
According to Fischer, disc degeneration or arthritis are ways to reduce the channel.
What age groups does this disease mainly affect?
Spinal stenosis is most commonly found in adults and not in 30-year-olds like Wright. Fischer, however, treated active patients in baseball or golf before suffering from vertebral stenosis.
"Some people are just starting to get rid of disk space and this is mostly genetics-based," she says.
What are the symptoms?
According to Mr. Fischer, there is something called "cart sign", where if a patient is seen leaning forward while pushing a cart to relieve his back pain, it means he may be suffering from stenosis.
"The classic symptoms of lumbar spine stenosis are that you feel very well when you're flexed," she says. "When you lean forward, you open the spinal canal, leaving more room for nerve roots.
"When you get up and walk, you're in extension and that closes the space for the spinal canal. So it gets worse with any stenosis you have. As you walk and expand, all the nerve roots at this level and level are compressing a little and having less blood. " "Then you start having numbness, tingling, and pain in the distribution of these nerve roots."
Spinal stenosis can affect a player's ability to swing a bat.
"If you have stenosis, it's going to make you worse," Fischer says, "and you're going to feel as if you want to lean forward, and that will make you lose your swing mechanics."
This tendency to lean forward, to keep your shoulders high, your knees bent and your buttocks to avoid a batting position. This is a position where a body suffering from stenosis does not want to participate.
What types of baseball movements can cause disc degeneration?
According to Fischer, it is mainly the movements of the bat that cause a rotational force in the back. The movement of pushing a bat through the air to create contact with 100-mph throws for decades has a detrimental effect on the body. It is possible, she says, that her disk space begins to change at a young age.
Degeneration is not exclusive to the offensive end of the sport. The pitchers and the catchers are also in danger.
"I've been dealing with young pitchers with back problems due to hyperextension and a decrease in lean mass that they have when they end," says Fischer. "It's the armament movement. Sometimes, the catchers can also squat and move for hours. "
Is there a chance for someone with lumbar stenosis to never feel pain again?
"If you perform a good decompression (surgery) and the source of the stenosis is properly treated," Fischer explains, "the symptoms of the leg improve significantly by at least 85-90% and back and buttock pain can increase in the same way. "
But back pain has many contributing factors, and there is no guarantee that simple relief of stenosis will cure all. It is also possible that the symptoms will come back in the future.
Will Wright see any setbacks in normal daily life after baseball?
"As long as he does not suffer from leg numbness when walking," says Fischer, "he should be able to walk and drive and the normal activities of daily activity should be okay. But the extreme stress of being a professional athlete may not be possible. "
Fischer suggests that his patients take anti-inflammatory drugs or learn forms of physical therapy to improve the pain levels in their backs. "You can do pelvic belts," says Fischer. "Anyone who has done yoga and the instructor says to drop the tailbone or to tuck the pelvis, you basically take your pelvis and, instead of getting rid of it, you get it back. bending. You use your pelvis to flex and bend your spine without sitting down.
Is there a chance that Wright can come back and heal?
Wright never used the words "withdraw" at his press conference, even though it seems like the end of his career. Yet he is only 35 years old.
"Before Tiger Woods came back, I would have said" Yeah, he probably did, "says Fischer." But I think there's something at the time that a lot of athletes are not not able to take it because they are paid to do something and they can not do it right away, they are not helpful.
"I think that with time, healing and rest, things could improve. When he went into a specific physical therapy program and really worked with his mechanics to change the way he does things so as not to put stress on him, then there is always a possibility. He's still young.
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