Referred Muscle Strain Phenomenon

[hhh]

From the West Australian. If they were going to do the surgery they should have done some blocking procedure or something similar and published a case report. This refered pain = calf tears (ref Orchard BJSM 2004) is anecdotal but this could have given some harder evidence and a cause effect relationship, also helped direct better treatment methods. On the other hand it may have proved that they were wasting their time with the surgery!

I wonder what the spinal surgeons (ortho and neuro variety) think of the referred muscle strain theory??

Schofield to have back surgery

MARK DUFFIELD


Jarrad Schofield's eventful arrival at Fremantle continued, when the former
Port Adelaide midfielder entered hospital last night to have a back problem
corrected.

Dockers football manager Steven Icke said club doctors believed that a
nagging calf problem, that has stopped Schofield from joining in full
training since Christmas, may be a referred problem from tightness in his
lower back.

"They have just gone in to relieve the pressure in his lower back," he said.
"I am told it is a pretty simple procedure but it will keep him off the
track for a couple of days."

Schofield went into hospital yesterday and was expected to be released after
the surgery, either last night or this morning.

"He will do light skills for the rest of this week and be back in main
training next week," Icke said.

Schofield, 29, trained only lightly for most of last week and walked with a
slight limp when doing kick to kick drills with other injured players.

He was the subject of an AFL draft tampering investigation last month, after
it was revealed that his father had contacted the Kangaroos in the lead up
to the pre-season draft and warned them that Schofield intended to return to
Perth, even if drafted by a Melbourne club.

Schofield was cleared of any rule breach.

[injuryupdate]

This is an example of a medical team that appears to believe that back pathology causes calf pain (in the patient specifically). However, we don't know what his workup has been (in terms of scans, previous injections) and what the surgery involves. The surgery could be an epidural injection of cortisone from all we know in that newspaper report. If they have done a minimally invasive procedure that is a lot more than cortisone but can give a quick recovery, I'd love to know about it if it works out well for this player.

[Snuffy]

A 4 month lay off looks likely. Question is whether Freo were after a quick fix or there was serious pathology and they had to cut there losses. Interesting particularly when he is a new recruit to the club and whether Freo knew of the problems when they drafted him a few months prior. There haven't been too many guys that have had decent or prolonged careers post serious low back injuries eg Gary Lyons, Guy McKenna, Brad Ottens etc. A woeful result for the teams medical staff when they were predicting him to return to main training within the week.

[hhh]

Sounds like the Power had the wool pulled over the Dockers eyes on this one

Schofield aims for Dockers debut
Scott Coghlan
April 27, 2005

HIGH-PROFILE Fremantle recruit Jarrad Schofield is back on the field and hoping to be ready to return to AFL action within a month.

The experienced Schofield, a premiership player with Port Adelaide last year, was a prized signing for the Dockers over the summer but has been beset by injury since joining the club and is yet to turn out in Fremantle colours.

The 30-year-old was expected to boost Fremantle's midfield depth but has battled calf and back problems.

Schofield has had two operations since joining Fremantle, the most recent on his back in January.

Initially it was hoped he would be unavailable for only the first couple of games of the home-and-away season. But he suffered a further setback in his rehabilitation.

He admitted to briefly harbouring concerns the back problem could force a premature end to his 193-game career, but a half of WAFL reserves football for Subiaco last weekend has him confident there is plenty of light at the end of the tunnel.

"I pulled up better than I thought I would," Schofield said yesterday.

"It was good to be out there in a team environment playing some footy again and to get through a half of footy was pleasing for myself.

"I'll be looking to build on that this week and get some more game time.

"The injury itself is fine."

Schofield admitted he badly needed the run, with his touch missing and his match fitness well down.

He hopes to gradually improve enough in each area to be in line for selection by the time the Dockers play Essendon in Melbourne in round eight.

"If I pull up well each week we'll keep stepping it up," he said.

"I've got to get some real conditioning in the legs and get my fitness back."

Schofield said the continuing injury setbacks had made his first few months at Fremantle a frustrating time.

"Mentally it was pretty tough, but the club has been very supportive," he said.

Fellow Docker Des Headland said he expected to play against Melbourne at the MCG on Saturday, having missed the past two matches with hamstring soreness.

Headland said he was close to playing against Carlton, but said the Dockers had erred on the side of caution after the ongoing fitness problems that resulted from rushing him back prematurely from an ankle injury last season.

"If I get through training I should be right," Headland said. "I was pretty close last week and so I should be right this week, hopefully."

In another positive for Fremantle, defender Robert Haddrill (ankle) was back on the training track last night.