Shatty's surgery

[ecbm]

Pretty good discussion here. Fascinating that they can't operated for 7-10 days. Why is that? It shouldn't take so long for the inflammation to go down but I'm not a doctor. I do know that surgeries for sports hernias and small groin tears has advanced a lot recently. A player on an English soccer team I follow got hernia surgery from a German specialist who had come up with her own new surgical technique and was back playing in games in a little over 2 weeks. This was a few years ago.

I'm wondering if some above aren't right in speculating that this wasn't caused by the hit in Washington but maybe that aggravated an injury that he thought he could nurse through the season. If that's the case the club will play it very close to the vest as they won't want to take responsibility for letting our best Dman play in the allstar game with a lingering injury rather than getting him surgery during that ridiculous 9-day break.

[cprice12]

Last night during the game, Panger said Shattenkirk has had the surgery.
Maybe he misspoke, maybe I misheard him...but that is what I thought he said.

[ViPeRx007]

Pretty good discussion here. Fascinating that they can't operated for 7-10 days. Why is that? It shouldn't take so long for the inflammation to go down but I'm not a doctor. I do know that surgeries for sports hernias and small groin tears has advanced a lot recently. A player on an English soccer team I follow got hernia surgery from a German specialist who had come up with her own new surgical technique and was back playing in games in a little over 2 weeks. This was a few years ago.

I'm wondering if some above aren't right in speculating that this wasn't caused by the hit in Washington but maybe that aggravated an injury that he thought he could nurse through the season. If that's the case the club will play it very close to the vest as they won't want to take responsibility for letting our best Dman play in the allstar game with a lingering injury rather than getting him surgery during that ridiculous 9-day break.

The team can't be THAT stupid can they? There's no way they would have let him play in the All-Star game if they knew something was wrong with him, especially if they could have leveraged that time to get something fixed or at least give him a few extra days of rest. I can understand trying to nurse an injury, that happens all time, but he should have skipped the game if that was the case.

I'm guessing that they aren't that stupid and this was just one of those weird things that didn't look bad but caught him in just the perfectly wrong way. I echo the hopes that it's relatively minor.

[ecbm]

Pretty good discussion here. Fascinating that they can't operated for 7-10 days. Why is that? It shouldn't take so long for the inflammation to go down but I'm not a doctor. I do know that surgeries for sports hernias and small groin tears has advanced a lot recently. A player on an English soccer team I follow got hernia surgery from a German specialist who had come up with her own new surgical technique and was back playing in games in a little over 2 weeks. This was a few years ago.

I'm wondering if some above aren't right in speculating that this wasn't caused by the hit in Washington but maybe that aggravated an injury that he thought he could nurse through the season. If that's the case the club will play it very close to the vest as they won't want to take responsibility for letting our best Dman play in the allstar game with a lingering injury rather than getting him surgery during that ridiculous 9-day break.

The team can't be THAT stupid can they? There's no way they would have let him play in the All-Star game if they knew something was wrong with him, especially if they could have leveraged that time to get something fixed or at least give him a few extra days of rest. I can understand trying to nurse an injury, that happens all time, but he should have skipped the game if that was the case.

I'm guessing that they aren't that stupid and this was just one of those weird things that didn't look bad but caught him in just the perfectly wrong way. I echo the hopes that it's relatively minor.

I really want to believe they couldn't be that stupid, I do. But this sounds likely to be a groin or abdominal tear and I'm not seeing anything he went through recently that would cause that. Usually it's an injury from long-term impact on the muscle. So there could have been some indication of it.

Whatever, it's time for Petro to step up and get his head out. Could be good like that.

[cardsfan04]

I don't think they are stupid enough to let him play in the ASG if he needed surgery. I don't think Shatty is that stupid either.

Take playing in an exhibition game out of the equation and I could possibly believe he hurt something else and his having surgery on an unrelated nagging (yet minor) injury. But, I think the most likely, less-conspiracy-ish scenario is that he hurt something in the game that he left early and there's nothing else to it.

[cprice12]

Pretty good discussion here. Fascinating that they can't operated for 7-10 days. Why is that? It shouldn't take so long for the inflammation to go down but I'm not a doctor. I do know that surgeries for sports hernias and small groin tears has advanced a lot recently. A player on an English soccer team I follow got hernia surgery from a German specialist who had come up with her own new surgical technique and was back playing in games in a little over 2 weeks. This was a few years ago.

I'm wondering if some above aren't right in speculating that this wasn't caused by the hit in Washington but maybe that aggravated an injury that he thought he could nurse through the season. If that's the case the club will play it very close to the vest as they won't want to take responsibility for letting our best Dman play in the allstar game with a lingering injury rather than getting him surgery during that ridiculous 9-day break.

The team can't be THAT stupid can they? There's no way they would have let him play in the All-Star game if they knew something was wrong with him, especially if they could have leveraged that time to get something fixed or at least give him a few extra days of rest. I can understand trying to nurse an injury, that happens all time, but he should have skipped the game if that was the case.

I'm guessing that they aren't that stupid and this was just one of those weird things that didn't look bad but caught him in just the perfectly wrong way. I echo the hopes that it's relatively minor.

I really want to believe they couldn't be that stupid, I do. But this sounds likely to be a groin or abdominal tear and I'm not seeing anything he went through recently that would cause that. Usually it's an injury from long-term impact on the muscle. So there could have been some indication of it.

Whatever, it's time for Petro to step up and get his head out. Could be good like that.

I doubt that's the case at all.
Management isn't stupid. They have their eyes on one thing and one thing only this year, and that is the cup. Letting one of our key players who is having a Norris caliber season play in the ASG with a minor nagging injury that could get dangerously worse at any time and hurt our cup chances, doesn't make any sense at all.
Unless there is some sort of evidence to support this claim, it's just baseless speculation.

We don't even know what the specific injury is yet. An abdominal injury can be a number of different things.

[not_a_wings_fan]

Nothing said it would get worse if he played... I don't think they would be risking him if it was something that could get worse.

I said it was a nagging thing that was painful and he was playing through it, but when he sprained his knee on that play and was going to be out for 2-4 weeks, go ahead and get all the way healthy because you can't play through the knee.

Only the team knows what the deal is, and they aren't going to tell us at this point. Maybe at the end of the season it will come out, but there's zero chance of a tell all before that or we would already know.

[JesusNEVERexisted]

Strickland just said Shattenkirk won't be back till end of March.

[cprice12]

Shattenkirk recovering after surgery

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/hockey/p ... 716d4.html

Blues defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk is recuperating in the Philadelphia area after abdominal surgery last week.
Dr. William Meyers performed the procedure at the Vincera Institute in Philadelphia on Thursday, four days after Shattenkirk suffered the injury Feb. 1 in Washington.

The All-Star defenseman left the game against the Capitals after battling for the puck with Alexander Ovechkin and going down in serious pain. The Blues have declined to offer any specifics on the nature of the injury, other than to announce the need for surgery.

The club continues to list Shattenkirk’s timetable for a return as “week to week.”

He is one of several NHL players who have had the abdominal surgery performed by Dr. Meyers at the Vincera Institute.

Two Columbus Blue Jackets, forwards Mark Letestu and Brandon Dubinsky, missed two months following similar procedures.

[glen a richter]

This begs the question: do you look for a rental d-man to shoulder the load up to when Shatty gets back? If he's out 2 months following the surgery that's pretty much the beginning of the playoffs. A lot can happen in the tight central, we're already losing ground on Nashville after making a lot of positive gains over the 13 game point streak, and it's obvious Shattenkirk is a major part of the team, especially in getting the offense going as evidenced by the tail off in gpg since he went down. If he was out for 2 weeks, I'd say no. But 2 months is a long time to be short a Norris candidate d-man.

Might be a sly way to unload Berglund, in any event.

[ecbm]

On general principle I wouldn't say the Blues need to go shop for a rental replacement but in this instance they need to at least be looking as the power play and at times offense generally has looked a bit inept since Shatty went down and then there's also Petro & Bouw's inconsistent form.

You guys thinks there's any way for the Blues to acquire & find a way to keep Franson? Thinking no myself but he's the most obvious available replacement. Dag. This could be a BIG problem.

[theohall]

The Blues can be as coy as they want, but giving up the doc's name gives away the injury.

Dr. William Meyers
William C. Meyers, MD has dedicated 25 years to pioneering the diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation and prevention of core muscle injuries, formerly known as athletic pubalgia or sports hernia.

3 to 7 weeks recovery time depending on what was actually injured, because all sports hernias are not the same.

[abc789987]

There's no way that the hernia was called by that one play, right? He had to have a minor hernia before and this made it worse? Is this how these things work?

[theohall]

Did some reading on this and there are two minds of thought in the medical world.

Dr. Meyer's believes some trauma causes the injury - ie the hit with Ovechkin and the way his skate caught.

Other docs claim minor pain in the groin area over time is actually the beginning of the injury and a sudden strain (like the hit) exacerbates it to the point one can't skate.

No idea which case it was with Shattenkirk, but if he had lingering pain over time, I highly doubt he would have been playing in the All-Star game.

Here are two good links:

Men's Fitness - describes Dr. Meyers attitude
Perform Better - describes a completely different theory, which is likely just as relevant, but would point to Shattenkirk resting vice playing during the break.

[WaukeeBlues]

On Sirius XM radio they had Andy Strickland on today. He was trying to explain how the injury happened and apparently he talked to Shattenkirk, or says he did, and Shatty told him that he heard it pop and knew he did something serious the moment it happened and that "muscle tore completely off of the bone"

Now if he's suffering a hernia I don't know how that's possible but okay...

[abc789987]

On Sirius XM radio they had Andy Strickland on today. He was trying to explain how the injury happened and apparently he talked to Shattenkirk, or says he did, and Shatty told him that he heard it pop and knew he did something serious the moment it happened and that "muscle tore completely off of the bone"

Now if he's suffering a hernia I don't know how that's possible but okay...

I find it hard to believe that with the Blues being so tight lipped on the injury that Shattenkirk would just go ahead and share this information with Strickland on the record...

But the way Shattenkirk went down that probably sounds about right... But what muscle and what bone? That's not sports hernia, is it?

[ecbm]

On Sirius XM radio they had Andy Strickland on today. He was trying to explain how the injury happened and apparently he talked to Shattenkirk, or says he did, and Shatty told him that he heard it pop and knew he did something serious the moment it happened and that "muscle tore completely off of the bone"

Now if he's suffering a hernia I don't know how that's possible but okay...

I find it hard to believe that with the Blues being so tight lipped on the injury that Shattenkirk would just go ahead and share this information with Strickland on the record...

But the way Shattenkirk went down that probably sounds about right... But what muscle and what bone? That's not sports hernia, is it?

No, it isn't. I'm not a doctor but I believe that would be much more serious. Hernias are purely soft-tissue injuries.

[not_a_wings_fan]

A hernia is when an internal organ is protruding somewhere it doesn't belong. It is caused by tear or weakness in a muscle area. In this case, we know it is somewhere in the abdomen or groin area, and as such, it could very much have been a complete tear away from bone, which is why it required surgery to repair rather than rest. Further, the length of recovery also suggests a full tear.

There is nothing about Shatty's description that is inconsistent with a hernia, in fact it is indicative of a very severe injury.

[cardsfan04]

A hernia is when an internal organ is protruding somewhere it doesn't belong. It is caused by tear or weakness in a muscle area. In this case, we know it is somewhere in the abdomen or groin area, and as such, it could very much have been a complete tear away from bone, which is why it required surgery to repair rather than rest. Further, the length of recovery also suggests a full tear.

There is nothing about Shatty's description that is inconsistent with a hernia, in fact it is indicative of a very severe injury.

I guess it could be a hernia, but why wouldn't they just say he has a hernia?

Three reasons I doubt it's a hernia:

1. Recovery time. A hernia wouldn't keep him out through the end of March. That's a really long recovery time.

2. He noticed it mid-game. When I had a hernia, I felt it pretty much right away, but didn't realize it might be an issue until I saw it.

3. He heard a pop. That seems odd for a hernia.

[not_a_wings_fan]

A hernia is when an internal organ is protruding somewhere it doesn't belong. It is caused by tear or weakness in a muscle area. In this case, we know it is somewhere in the abdomen or groin area, and as such, it could very much have been a complete tear away from bone, which is why it required surgery to repair rather than rest. Further, the length of recovery also suggests a full tear.

There is nothing about Shatty's description that is inconsistent with a hernia, in fact it is indicative of a very severe injury.

I guess it could be a hernia, but why wouldn't they just say he has a hernia?

Three reasons I doubt it's a hernia:

1. Recovery time. A hernia wouldn't keep him out through the end of March. That's a really long recovery time.

2. He noticed it mid-game. When I had a hernia, I felt it pretty much right away, but didn't realize it might be an issue until I saw it.

3. He heard a pop. That seems odd for a hernia.

So they sent him to the top sports hernia surgeon for his "abdominal surgery" and that's a pretty good clue that it's a hernia of some type.

Again, refer to the definition above for a hernia - a hernia is a sypmtom of a muscle weakness or tear. Recovery times, and surgical needs, are greatly influenced by what is torn and how badly. Some of them are pretty easy to fix, some are difficult and have long recovery times.

They aren't going to give us a bunch of information for both federal medical privacy reasons and competitive advantage reasons that are typical of injury reporting in hockey (concussions reported as "upper body injury, etc.)

The image below shows the affected areas of the abdomen. You will note that there is tissue connecting muscles to bone. Any tear in those areas would likely have a pop and be immediately painful.



This is the type of thing that could have frayed a bit and the flukey play just finished it off or even something where it gave way all at once.

I know in years past several players had sports hernia surgery in the off season after playing with them for parts of the year, so again it's about severity of the injury because the term is a bit of a catch all for a number of different muscles and tears and strains.

Hell, Ott had sports hernia surgery this past off season and stated he played much of the year with it.

Ott was also dealing with a shoulder injury and a sports hernia that required offseason surgery shortly after the Blues were eliminated from the playoffs.

The surgery was successful, and he’s resumed his full routine.

“I’m skating like crazy and working out like crazy,” Ott said. “(The sports hernia) was bothering me for the last few months, and it’s just nice to know that I’m all fixed up. I can already tell, such a tremendous difference in the gym and when I’m skating. I take a big onus on myself to come in and have a big year this year.