November 12, 2009

Surgeon separates Phillies player from his pain

By Kelley Luckstein

A few years ago, Phillies right fielder Jayson Werth thought he had hit the end of his career. Chronic wrist pain had sidelined himjayson-werth1 from playing baseball with his then-team, the Los Angeles Dodgers – until a surgeon at the Mayo Clinic diagnosed the root of his problem and corrected it with arthroscopic surgery that he developed…

 

A family friend, an orthopedist who had worked at the Mayo Clinic, was out walking his dog when he ran into Werth at the mailbox. They talked about his wrist, and the friend encouraged Werth to call his old colleagues at Mayo's orthopedic hand clinic. That led to an appointment with hand surgeon Richard Berger.

 

Werth says, he felt his career was over. "If Dr. Berger didn't figure it out, I figured that was it," he says. "But when I saw Dr. Berger, it was the first glimmer of hope I had in a year."…

 

If diagnosed early, the injury can be stabilized with a splint and allowed to heal. But in Werth's case, it wasn't diagnosed early enough, and he required an outpatient arthroscopic surgery, which Berger developed…

 

"I feel like it's 100%," says Werth, who hopes to play some golf now that the season is over.

 

USA Today by Mary Brophy Marcus, 11/12/09

Tags: Celebrity Patients, Orthopedics, Orthopedics, torn ligament, wrist pain

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