Howard sidelined indefinitely
CLEARWATER, Fla. — Ryan Howard has indeed suffered a setback in his recovery from Achilles surgery and will be sidelined indefinitely following a procedure to clean an infection from his original wound.
Howard sidelined indefinitely
Matt Gelb, Inquirer Staff Writer
CLEARWATER, Fla. — Ryan Howard has indeed suffered a setback in his recovery from Achilles surgery and will be sidelined indefinitely following a procedure to clean an infection from his original wound.
Foot specialist Mark Myerson performed a "small procedure" Monday to remove the stitches from Howard's wound, Phillies head athletic trainer Scott Sheridan said. Howard is on antibiotics and should return to camp sometime Wednesday. Myerson is the surgeon who originally operated on Howard's ruptured left Achilles last October.
Sheridan is unaware of when Howard will return to his rehab program. When asked if the delay would be days or weeks, Sheridan said, "I truly don't know that answer."
While Myerson was forced to reopen Howard's wound, he did find the structure of the rebuilt Achilles tendon remained intact.
"That was our biggest concern going into this," Sheridan said. "That was one of the things during the procedure he confirmed; the Achilles tendon is intact and not compromised. That's great news."
But now, Howard must heal this new wound. Sheridan said the team will be cautious this time to avoid any further problems later.
And the area where the procedure was done is notoriously a difficult place for a wound to heal.
"It's common for the skin behind the Achilles to have trouble healing," Sheridan said. "I wouldn't say it's common for the infection to occur. I do know it's a tough area to heal. It doesn't have a very good blood supply."
Sheridan once again refuted the idea this was a setback to Howard's recovery, despite him being inactive since Saturday.
The Phillies had publicly target a return for their first baseman sometime in May. Sheridan said he never had a timetable.
"I don't prefer to use that word," Sheridan said. "I know that's the word everyone wants to use. We never established a particular timetable for him. Right now, it's one of those things that happens in the rehab process. We just have to move forward from it."
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This is not uncommon. I also had an infection after my Achilles and had pretty much the same thing done. The stiches now have to reheal, which adds 2 weeks to the process. The problem is the projection of a May 1st return is somebody's wet dream. Look for a July 1st date.— jimmymack- Warbiscuit needs to get a life.— SilliBilli
- Wake up everybody, his return will be April 2013. not this year. This is an 12-18 month recovery. Ask anyone who has had the same procedure. they'll all tell you it took 18 months to feel ready to go again at full speed. This is not going to happen this year. Sorry. Go Phils!!!— jr1165
- So Sad..That Ryan Howard is in the 25 million stage of a 100 Million $$$$ Bust of a Contract— Kevinmac
Comment removed.- You do realize he hasn't played in the field since leaving the Phillies, right? — jewel214
- My post yesterday alluded to Dr. Myerson probably having done a culture (to check for infection) and that was the reason why we didn't hear anything about the visit. Turns out they had it figured and irrigated/debrided the wound. Good thing the tendon repair was not compromised, (or so we are being told).....in any event, you don't sideline a player "indefinately" for a simple cleanout unless it is a very strange and very strong type of infection. Let's hope it's not MRSA and that it doesn't progress further into the repaired tendon tissue. YES, this IS a setback for Howard and the team. Every week he cannot participate in drills at this stage can be a 2-3 week longer timeframe needed in his recovery top get back on the field for meaningful games.— Mark1npt
- "Indefinitely" is a misreading of the context on your part. The best doctors do not work with timetables just like they don't bandy about % of survival to their cancer patients. A real physician understands how silly, useless and beside the point those type of things are to proper medical care. The doctor actually said that he doesn't do timetables not that Howard's timetable specifically is indefinite. In this doctors view, his answer is always that. — UncleStosh
- warbiscuit is the be-all, end-all of comment board, fantasy baseball GM's. all bow to his infinite knowledge and professional baseball talent evaluation and financial management. raj has run this organization into the ground! we have even less of a chance than the mets to win the division this year! RABBLE, RABBLE, RABBLE! ALL IS LOST!!! ALL IS LOST!!!!!!!!! WE HAVE A STRONG BULLPEN! DAMN IT ALL! WE HAVE THE BEST 1-3 ROTATION IN THE LEAGUE...HOW VILE!?!??!!— AndyReidsMustache
- Why was he out taing BP and ground balls last week? Someone needs to be fired.— gordon7
- The so-called stitches that got infected were not the ones holding the skin together. These stitches or sutures were the ones holding the Achilles tendon together. Ryan will now be on extra slow recovery time so he doesn't re-pop the tendon which can easily happen.— tommy_the_k
- Where did you read that? I did not see that in any report. — jewel214
- You can listen to the Phillies game here: http://www.1270theteam.com/cc-common/radio_app/
http://www.iheart.com/#/live/653/?autoplay=true
— EL Zorro - warbiscuit, you really are an a.. !!— FrankJr
- Other than warbiscuit, a lot of informative posts about Howard's setback. Nice to see for a change.— phillyjim7
