Markakis Scheduled For MRI

[MrOrange82]

Anyone care (able?) to explain the mechanics of a herniated disc (and how such a thing heals on its own) to someone who's gotten most of his science knowledge from The Far Side cartoons and re-runs of Wild America?

EDIT: I should add..."without resorting to wikipedia and/or lmgtfy links."

[Orioles0615]

I have a bad feeling about this

<a href="http://beta.photobucket.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1106.photobucket.com/albums/h367/isestrex/Forum%20pic%20responses/doomed.gif" border="0" alt=" photo doomed.gif"/></a>

[video=youtube;Drkh0YLF8rI]

[Can_of_corn]

No, Reimold had a ruptured disc which required major surgery to first take out the disc and then fuse the other discs together, from what I understand.

I consider this to be a relief honestly.

But at this point in the process the team was saying similar things.

Pretty sure the early estimates on Teagarden were optimistic by a few months as well.

[tntoriole]

Anyone care (able?) to explain the mechanics of a herniated disc (and how such a thing heals on its own) to someone who's gotten most of his science knowledge from The Far Side cartoons and re-runs of Wild America?

EDIT: I should add..."without resorting to wikipedia and/or lmgtfy links."

Discs act like shock absorbers between the spinal vertebra. The discs are kept in alignment by strong ligaments and muscle tissue around the spinal column. With pressure/force over time, discs can sometimes get out of normal alignment and cause muscle spasm, nerve spasm or worse. A small strain/tear in the surrounding ligaments can cause this (just like a sprained ankle is a small tear in the ligaments of the ankle) and as the tear heals with rest, physical therapy, the disc is returned to its regular alignment and symptoms usually go away. A disc rupture like Nolan Reimold is a whole different kettle of fish..not this at all.

[Bahama O's Fan]

If he is out any amount of time, can you put Mclouth in RF with Reimold in LF?

[waroriole]

If he is out any amount of time' date=' can you put Mclouth in RF with Reimold in LF?[/quote']

McLouth has a weak arm, Reimold would move to RF.

[stomperspc]

For whatever it is worth, here are a couple of Baseball Prospectus articles on herniated discs:

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=15888

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=14826

The injury to Michael Cuddyer that is mentioned in the second article saw him miss just 12 days (must have not even gone on the DL) in August 2011 and as far as I know, he hasn't had any issues since. So while it is probably safe to say that no neck injuries/herniated disc issues are good, it doesn't necessarily mean it will snowball into a bigger issue.

[MrOrange82]

Discs act like shock absorbers between the spinal vertebra. The discs are kept in alignment by strong ligaments and muscle tissue around the spinal column. With pressure/force over time, discs can sometimes get out of normal alignment and cause muscle spasm, nerve spasm or worse. A small strain/tear in the surrounding ligaments can cause this (just like a sprained ankle is a small tear in the ligaments of the ankle) and as the tear heals with rest, physical therapy, the disc is returned to its regular alignment and symptoms usually go away. A disc rupture like Nolan Reimold is a whole different kettle of fish..not this at all.

Hmm...interesting stuff.

EDIT: ditto for the above post.

[nate22]

I blame Tommy Hunter for all these neck injuries our OF have suffered.

[Il BuonO]

Discs act like shock absorbers between the spinal vertebra. The discs are kept in alignment by strong ligaments and muscle tissue around the spinal column. With pressure/force over time, discs can sometimes get out of normal alignment and cause muscle spasm, nerve spasm or worse. A small strain/tear in the surrounding ligaments can cause this (just like a sprained ankle is a small tear in the ligaments of the ankle) and as the tear heals with rest, physical therapy, the disc is returned to its regular alignment and symptoms usually go away. A disc rupture like Nolan Reimold is a whole different kettle of fish..not this at all.

Agree with everything here except that sometimes through age or conditions the symptoms don't go away. After my ball playing days were over I had two back surgeries for two herniated discs that both became ruptured. One was 6mm and the second was 9mm. If you know anything about the done these are extremely large displacements. The first surgery did not go well and a second was scheduled to remove excess disc material that was protruding against my nerves.

Two years later I had recurring pain and started to see a chiropractor because of minor spasms. A good chiropractor can align the neck and spine and works in concert with a massage therapist to loosen the muscles before an adjustment.

If Markakis has a small herniation my guess is 1 to 2mm.

[Can_of_corn]

I blame Tommy Hunter for all these neck injuries our OF have suffered.

If Nick could survive fielding behind Guthrie then Hunter shouldn't be a problem.

[weams]

No, Reimold had a ruptured disc which required major surgery to first take out the disc and then fuse the other discs together, from what I understand.

I consider this to be a relief honestly.

Reimold had pieces of bone from the vertebrae fracture that occurred when he face-planted in the stands going all Jeter. His Vertebrae were then fussed. Kinda like Peyton Manning.

[MrOrange82]

If Nick could survive fielding behind Guthrie then Hunter shouldn't be a problem.

Pretty sure Nick simply sat in the RF stands back then. Greatly reduced risk of whiplash.

[csgordos]

Anyone care (able?) to explain the mechanics of a herniated disc (and how such a thing heals on its own) to someone who's gotten most of his science knowledge from The Far Side cartoons and re-runs of Wild America?

EDIT: I should add..."without resorting to wikipedia and/or lmgtfy links."

Discs act like shock absorbers between the spinal vertebra. The discs are kept in alignment by strong ligaments and muscle tissue around the spinal column. With pressure/force over time, discs can sometimes get out of normal alignment and cause muscle spasm, nerve spasm or worse. A small strain/tear in the surrounding ligaments can cause this (just like a sprained ankle is a small tear in the ligaments of the ankle) and as the tear heals with rest, physical therapy, the disc is returned to its regular alignment and symptoms usually go away. A disc rupture like Nolan Reimold is a whole different kettle of fish..not this at all.

Above is a good explanation. Here is what I tell my patients:

If I took an MRI of everybody who post on this board who are over 35 at least 50% of you would have a "bulging/herniated disc ". There is no guarantee that you would have pain from this bulging disc. 75 to 85% of all patients with a bulging disc will become symptom-free within six months even if you do nothing at all. Medication and rehabilitation can speed this process up and help to teach the patient how to prevent this from reoccurring in the future. But there are no guarantees that it will not come back. Once you have a spine injury you always have a spine injury. Does not mean you will always or ever have pain again though.

The analogy I like to use is the jelly doughnut analogy. Imagine the disc is a jelly doughnut. The outside covering of the jelly donut is your fibrous material of the disc. The inner part of the jelly donut is the Nucleus of the disc. When you have a bulging disc it's like barely putting some pressure on the jelly donut and the jelly starts to bulge Toward one side. If you take the pressure off the bulge will often return back to the normal position. However, if you stomp on the jelly donut and the jelly shoot out of the donut there is no way to put it back in. As an example see Nolan Reimold and needing surgery to fix a stomped jelly donut.

One other important piece of information is, if you take a physical therapist (which I am one), a chiropractor, a neurologist, a neurosureon, a orthopedic surgeon, a radiologist, and a family doctor, And ask them what a herniated disc is: There is a good chance you will get seven different answers. My interpretation of the reporting is is that it is the mild version of the jelly donut analogy for what Markakis currently has. Hope that helps.

On a separate side note, a common miscommunication in medicine is that the difference between a sprain and strain. You sprain a Ligament. You strain a muscle. The easiest way to remember that is that a muscle is connected to bone by a tendon. Strain has a "T" init just like tendon starts with the Letter "T". Hope that helps.

I apologize for any typos secondary to doing this on my iPhone at lunch.

[csgordos]

Anyone care (able?) to explain the mechanics of a herniated disc (and how such a thing heals on its own) to someone who's gotten most of his science knowledge from The Far Side cartoons and re-runs of Wild America?

EDIT: I should add..."without resorting to wikipedia and/or lmgtfy links."

Discs act like shock absorbers between the spinal vertebra. The discs are kept in alignment by strong ligaments and muscle tissue around the spinal column. With pressure/force over time, discs can sometimes get out of normal alignment and cause muscle spasm, nerve spasm or worse. A small strain/tear in the surrounding ligaments can cause this (just like a sprained ankle is a small tear in the ligaments of the ankle) and as the tear heals with rest, physical therapy, the disc is returned to its regular alignment and symptoms usually go away. A disc rupture like Nolan Reimold is a whole different kettle of fish..not this at all.

Agree with everything here except that sometimes through age or conditions the symptoms don't go away. After my ball playing days were over I had two back surgeries for two herniated discs that both became ruptured. One was 6mm and the second was 9mm. If you know anything about the done these are extremely large displacements. The first surgery did not go well and a second was scheduled to remove excess disc material that was protruding against my nerves.

Two years later I had recurring pain and started to see a chiropractor because of minor spasms. A good chiropractor can align the neck and spine and works in concert with a massage therapist to loosen the muscles before an adjustment.

If Markakis has a small herniation my guess is 1 to 2mm.

Herniation does not equal tear depending on who is giving the diagnosis. It can be a simple 2mm bulge and not tear.