Eric Chavez, Injury Analysis 2

In baseball, lower back injuries account for 2 to 5% of all injuries occurrence. Being this data available and unchanged for more than 15 years (Dick R, 2007), we would expect that the professionals in charge of the health and performance of the MLB athletes should have already in place a well set-up system for the prevention of this type of injuries. However, several publications indicate that the type, causes and proportionality of injuries did not change and that actually the injury numbers seem to be increasing year after year (Conte S, 2001).
Eric Chavez low back pain history is a well known example that shows that no matter how many injuries of the same kind occur, and with a clear association to the sport’s technique, there is not yet in place a methodological process to prevent and/or solve them.
To illustrate it, we can review from the available public information and some videos that I took, how Mr. Chavez has change from being a baseball star to a constantly injured athlete for five years. And still today it is not clear if his problems are completely solved as I expressed in my previous post.
Between August 2004 and July 2007, when Mr. Chavez had his first back surgery, he was in day-to-day disable list at least 5 times. He was suffering spasms, soreness and tightness in his back that are the usual symptoms of tissues degenerative problems. The fact that those days of rest were restoring his comfort and physical capacity is enough indication to estimate that his discomfort had some association with his training process and/or baseball techniques.
A 2006 online publication showed how Mr. Chavez was training during the off-season to prevent injuries, and probably to “help” with his already present back problems. The analysis of many of the exercises that were implemented with him (see the pictures below) showed how the system of training and/or rehabilitation is rarely considering the situation of the player and the consequences that those training programs can produce. In this way, Mr. Chavez added new sources of stress to the already damaged low back and accelerated the injury process that almost ended his athletic career:






As we can see in these pictures, several exercises of his training routine were inconvenient for the kind of pathology that Mr. Chavez was suffering.
Were Mr. Chavez’s problems preventable? Could he have avoided surgery with other type of interventions? Was really necessary to wait 5 years to generate a corrective action?  More information is necessary to answer these questions, but I would risk an emphatic yes to the first two and no to the third one.
Therefore several conclusions can be taken from this situation:
1)    There is not yet, in baseball, a system in place to prevent injuries even though the clarity of the sport epidemiology.
2)    There is not a clear understanding of the pathomechanics of the sport by the practitioners, therefore training is blindly designed and implemented with no consideration of the associated risk.
3)     It seems like there is not communication between all the health practitioners and the physical trainers to coordinate training in relation to the player’s pathology.
4)    The athlete is left behind in a disorganized sport that many times ruins a fantastic career.
We now know that it is necessary to establish a methodological system to assist doctors, coaches and physical trainers to integrate the athlete’s information. In this way, they will be able to coordinate their efforts to help the athlete’s career and the baseball experience as a whole.

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