From the Cincinnati Enquirer:
The Reds have announced that Johnny Cueto’s “back spasms” are now a “strained oblique”…
“It’s odd,†head trainer Paul Lessard said.
Lessard could not put a timetable on when Cueto might be able to pitch.
“We’re still throwing a the kitchen sink at him (as far as treatment),†Lessard said.
Cueto hasn’t had an MRI yet.
“We’re debating that,†Lessard said.
The consistent ineptitude of the Cincinnati Reds medical staff is astounding. I’m not a doctor, and I don’t play one on television, but I couldn’t do a worse job than these guys do…jeez.
If the front office doesn’t make wholesale changes to this team’s medical staff in the off season, they’re crazy.
I’ve been critical of the medical staff in the past, but in this case it seems like spasms and/or oblique can be easy to confuse if the symptoms are similar. It’s not like the Madson, Masset or Votto injuries where they sent the guys back out there to play while they were already hurt. Still, I’d replace them anyway because of their history dating back to 2001.
This is something where they shut the guy down and immediately began treatment without surgery being an option. Back spasms, strained oblique, whatever it is there isn’t any surgery to be done, I don’t know what you guys expected the medical staff to do about it.
The medical staff’s history dating back to 2001? MLB players get injured on every team, every year. It’s not just the Reds players and it’s not necessarily because of bad training or treatment. Some guys, like Ken Griffey Jr and Bill Bray, are just prone to injury. The team doctor has a good reputation and the head trainer was invited to the All Star Game – neither is in danger of losing their job.
@redsfanman:
Nobody said the medical staff is causing injuries. The concern is the handling of the injury or diagnosis after it occurs. If you know your past 12 years, there’s not much to argue here.
You admit that you have no medical background but you know better than the Reds medical staff? Interesting. I’ll bet Bill Lack would’ve had Johnny Cueto patched up and ready to go already if he had his way.
If the front office fires the medical staff because a pitcher got injured… yikes. If they make ‘wholesale changes’ to the medical staff related to Cueto’s situation they’re pretty desperate to find somebody to blame. Bryan Price is the pitching coach, Johnny Cueto is a pitcher, maybe you can blame Price – after all Cueto supposedly injured himself while warming up. Witch hunts are great, right?
While its very frustrating to have guys sit on the bench for a week then go on the DL or the Votto and Rolen and so many others situations. I think a lot of it has to do with the teams communication. If this is indeed a strained Oblique then they probably new or suspected it was that night. Just now they start to hint that its something more. Its SOP around Reds camp this season and the past few. I’ll be very surprised if we see Cueto again this season. 🙁
That being said. The Reds just continue to roll on.
Any reason why they would want to wait to announce the injury was more serious? Hard to believe the medical staff actually thought it was back spasms for more than a couple of minutes. I’m have no medical knowledge whatsoever, but I knew it was more serious while he was still on the mound.
I am a medical professional, though I have little to no experience with sports injuries like this, especially in adults. I do, however, have experience in using MRI as a diagnostic tool. What I can say is that if the medical staff felt that the current treatment/plan would be the same, whether back spasm or oblique strain (rest, ice/heat, time), then there would be little reason to do an MRI. Current medical literature in general recommends against overuse of MRIs, and almost always recommends against it as a first tool for diagnosis. Cueto was going to take a couple days off no matter what. So, if the staff felt that if they waited a couple days that the plan of treatment for those days would be the same, medical guidelines would be to not do an MRI. In other words, they asked themselves, if we do an MRI on Saturday vs a couple days later, would anything be different? Apparently, they think not.
@preach: This.
Absolutely.. you have you ace of the staff with a back injury, the very first thing I do is get him an MRI and an X-Ray. You’re talking a multi-million dollar investment for your WELL over $100 Million company. I would preventative exam out the ass. Worst case, you lost a small amount of money proving your guy is healthy.. best case? You catch something and are able to prevent it from getting worse.
Ridiculous medical staff.
I haven’t posted much in a while, maybe once or twice since Votto got hurt, but I’ll give my two cents on the situation. At the time of the injury, and even through the first couple of days, back spasms and an oblique strain can present very similarly. When they first evaluated it, it very well could have presented like back spasms, so they treated it as such. When he hadn’t responded as well to treatment as they thought, they probably reevaluated and determined it was a little worse than they thought, especially since it is in an odd location for a pitcher. Remember, this is only day 3 since the injury. Its not like they sat on it for two weeks like Votto. Hopefully we can sweep tonight, St. Louis and WSH go to 5 games and we can save him for like game 3 of the NLCS.