Zaun to undergo season-ending shoulder surgery
June 11th, 2010 by Jennifer Walker-Journey
Gregg Zaun will have shoulder surgery next week, which will end the season early for the Milwaukee Brewers catcher. It may also mark the end of his career. “I’m not in a situation anymore where I need to play. I don’t need to play. I don’t need to play Major League Baseball to validate myself as a person,” Zaun said before the Brewers’ game against the Chicago Cubs. “Do I want to play? That’s a different story. It’s too uncertain to tell. I’m really upset about having surgery and my season being over.”
Shoulder surgeries among professional baseball players are about as common as foul balls but they don’t always end careers. Zaun injured his shoulder in April when he collided on a plate, but opted to play through the pain. Last month in Pittsburgh, Zaun aggravated the injury while batting. The surgery will repair a torn labrum.
Labrum repair surgeries are not uncommon and can often return players to the field after rehabilitation. But not all patients have been as lucky. Last Fall, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a warning to health care professionals that during such surgeries, pain pumps should not be used.
Pain pumps are balloon-like devices that are filled with anesthetics and rest outside the body. In many instances, a catheter is placed inside the cartilage at the surgical site, where it drips medication for up to 72 hours. This use has never been approved by the FDA, but pain pump manufacturers instructed surgeons to use them in this manner. As a result, numerous people who had shoulder repair surgeries began complaining of stiffness, a decreased range of motion, and pain. Doctors found that the cartilage in these patients’ shoulders had worn away, causing bone to rub against bone. This painful, debilitating and irreversible condition is known as chondrolysis.
Source: The Canadian Press