Pedroia's Injury

 As any even casual Red Sox fan knows right now, Dustin Pedroia has a thumb injury and not playing in games. He was taken out of Monday’s game after making a diving play, but it was later learned he’s been having discomfort in his thumb for about three weeks and aggravated the injury in the at-bat prior to making the play. Pedroia sat out Tuesday’s game, and fans anxiously waited to hear word on whether or not the un- official captain of the Red Sox would be spending time on the disabled list.

After last night’s game, Pedroia revealed he had a torn abductor muscle in his thumb and is trying to avoid the disabled list. Pedroia is quoted in The Boston Globe as saying:

The swelling in my thumb has gone down. The bruising has gone down so we’re just waiting to see if I could play… Yeah, I’m optimistic. We’re still talking about it and if the swelling and stuff goes down, I won’t miss that much time.

I don’t know I’m not a doctor. I just want to be here for the guys. If I can protect it when I hit, we’ll be all right. Hopefully, I heal quick and I can get back out there and soon as I can. My ligaments and tendons are fine. It’s the only muscle in the thumb. I have to wait for it to calm down and see if I can hit with a splint or a brace or something. And we’ll go on from there.

I don’t have to show them anything. I’ve played with injuries before. It comes down to me being able to swing with a brace on. I’ll get something made and see how it feels. If I can’t do it, it’s three or four weeks, so hopefully it’s not that.

I guess if Pedroia says he’s okay, we as fans are supposed to believe him. However, I keep thinking back to 2010, when Pedroia had his broken foot and kept pushing himself to come back sooner. That ended with him missing most of the season on the disabled list, foot surgery, and a screw put into his foot to hold the bone together.

So because of 2010, I decided to do a little research on Pedroia’s torn abductor muscle and what exactly that entails (since so many reports about Pedroia’s injury are bypassing what the injury actually is). So, here’s my research:

According to MedicineNet.com, an abductor muscle is “Any muscle used to pull a body part away from the midline of the body. For example, the abductor muscles of the legs spread the legs away from the midline and away from one another.” So, to have tear in this muscle would prevent someone from pulling their thumb away from their hand, which is essential for gripping a baseball or a bat.

Unfortunately, I didn’t find much help on the internet for what to do with a torn abductor muscle in the thumb (lots of stuff on adductor muscle in the hip though), which is probably why the reports on Pedroia’s injury haven’t included this. But, unlike myself, these reporters are being paid to get to the bottom of the story, can contact the Red Sox medical staff, and ask questions to Pedroia himself. I, on the other hand, can not.

But, I can give an account of my own experience with a thumb injury. Be forewarned, I did not have the same injury, but I did have a thumb injury. In high school, I severely sprained my thumb (I won’t get into how I did it because it is kind of embarrassing). My thumb immediately turned purple and was hard to move. I thought it was broken.

The thumb wasn’t broken, but instead it was severely sprained. It was so severely sprained that I had to wear a cast for a week, so I wouldn’t move it. This wasn’t the sort of thing that I wanted considering I was working as a secretary at my grandfather and uncle’s insurance business at the time, had schoolwork to do, and had surgery on the same hand only a few months prior (my math teacher made me take a test even though I couldn’t write with my right hand… then took off points because she couldn’t read my work).

But, it was only a week, and I made it through. My thumb was basically as good as new after the cast came off. It was still a little sore, but it was mostly from not being moved for a week.

Even though this isn’t the same thing, maybe the Red Sox medical staff, who I admitdo make my question their decisions sometimes, know what they’re talking about with Pedroia. Pedroia wants to play, and if his injury is something he can play through, then maybe we should just let him. I wouldn’t be that upset if Pedroia landed on the DL because a healthy Pedroia is always best, but Pedroia knows his limits… well, hopefully.