Howard sidelined indefinitely
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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.
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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Has Jim Thome gotten out of his rocking chair yet?— Wilhelm Von Humboldt- can you be any dumber? — wearepsu00
- whoa, short fuse there, psu. i think willy was just making a joke. you know what that is? i've got some good sandusky jokes if you want to hear them.
- Only a MORON would be fielding ground balls so soon after surgery. We don't need a fielder- we need a slugger. Get smart.Go Phils.— philsfansince1946
- I only consider this a "setback" if the repaired tendon is the problem, which is clearly not the case. this is an issue with the wound, so everyone is blowing this completely out of proportion, for reasons that i do not understand. once the wound heals up, he'll be back out there, in the meantime he'll ride the bike and workout in flip flops.— CosmoK
- that's ok --the clueless rube got the great Layne Nix to be starting first baseman for the 2012 season--but hey if they ever score 2 runs in a game, they have a $50 million closer— warbiscuit
- this is actually ok news. the infection will allow howard extra time to heal the repaired tendon. instead of trying to do too much too soon which is what most athletes do, howard will be forced to let it heal longer. so all in all, this setback could actually work out for ryan in the long run. may push his return back a few weeks. but i'd rather have that happen than him reinjure the tendon trying to come back too soon. i have faith in a thome/mayberry platoon to hold down the fort.— slanted and enchanted
- all you Phillie sycophants chirping at me for criticiczing clueless rube for his inane moves this winter are now wetting your pants thinking about all the 2-1 losses -- a mediocre offense has now turned officially pathetic...— warbiscuit
- Interesting how this writer's take is it's a setback while Phillies Nation or whatever called it no big deal and positive news. Seems to me this publication's perspective is geared towards selling papers and bigger news. In any event, he probably did too much too soon to have gotten some infection in a still-open wound like that.— PhillySubsMac
- This is clearly a setback any way you look at it. Any time you are rehabbing from a serious injury, being forced to sit out slows down your recovery. Fortunately, he should be far enough along in his rehab that it is not as significant as it would have been, say, two months ago. Phillies nation only says it is a positive because the Phillies were so secretive about why Howard went back to the doctor, even denying that he was having problems. That left open the possibility (and a lot of speculation) that there were structural problems. Thus, the fact that this is not a structural problem at this time is a positive relative to the other scenario. — PhillyGuyinNY
- It wasn't my heel but I had the exact same thing happen after surgery once. They cleaned out the wound, put me on Augmentin and I was healed in 3-4 days.
Warbiscuit, I'm sure you would have signed Albert Pujols in the off-season as insurance in case Howard's recovery lagged. You only point out problems, never offer realistic options. Right now, thanks to "Clueless Rube," we have Mayberry, Wigginton, Nix and Thome to fill in behind Howard and we still are at the luxury cap.— eman 
This wound has been over 4 months healing, due to the lack of blood supply to the affected area.
The pretty much light-medium work that he was doing, resulted in this set-back.
Big guys have a much greater chance of this type of injury being career threatening, and worse, ask Lawrence Taylor.— Phiggles- I heard it is not the big deal that is reported on here and it will set him back less then a week. That said there is no need to rush him back and it is impossible to set a time table for him to come back. Let him sit out until the break if necessary. Have to think ahead into next year not just this year— pattymac3
- wb, you are one serious moron. only someone like you could christen an offense 'pathetic' that in the second half of last season led the league in offense. And so far this season, not a SINGLE pitch has been thrown in any exhibition. Now that, friend, is quintessentially moronic. So you're basing that on what? That they got taken out of the playoffs by the hot, eventual WS winner? That's why they call it dope, ya dope.— PhillySubsMac
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