thurdl sports

NIH: Dead arm

Patterson Watch: It took some digging around sports medicine sites to figure out what, exactly, pulled Patterson out of the game early in Toronto, something called "Dead arm". Finally, I was able to track down a VA Tech website where kids ask sports medicine questions. The fact that the tone isn't entirely unlike my articles I realize may mean I've been condescending my readers, and now I'm all angsty.

Long and short, a dead arm is a brief dislocation of the shoulder joint. Ball of the joint slips out of the socket then right back in. Owie? Now, I've been hearing dead arm was the problem, but also that it wasn't quite as major as the website makes it sound (sounds like it's healed by extended conditioning and/or surgery). There are alternate takes on dead arm that are a little more colloquial, that the arm has simply just given out, it just refuses to work any more, and at that point there's nothing that can be done but leave the game. I think it's the second version of dead arm that Patterson is having problems with. Problem is that this kind of dead arm has no real fix other than just waiting it out.

Right now the Nationals homepage does not have a probably pitcher listed for what would be Patterson's next start, but he was being advertised as the July 4th starter on the Jumbotron at RFK last night. If it is just wait-it-out, he should probably be considered day-to-day, and depending on the severity of the dead arm, a decision might not come until Monday.

posted by thurdl @ 10:22 AM