Dr. Richard Berger, the Mayo Clinic orthopedic surgeon who discovered the type of wrist injury that nearly ended Jayson Werth’s baseball career — as well as the successful surgical treatment that has helped him return to baseball and play in two World Series for the Philadelphia Phillies — will participate in a live chat about the issue on Twitter on Thursday afternoon.
Update 11/12/09: USA Today has a story in today’s edition about Jayson’s wrist injury that begins:
A few years ago, Phillies right fielder Jayson Werth thought he had hit the end of his career. Chronic wrist pain had sidelined him 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.
Read the rest of the USA Today article about Jayson Werth.
Dr. Berger is conducting an ongoing conversation about this type of injury on Twitter using the #wristpain hash tag, so you can ask questions by including #wristpain in your tweet, or in the comments on this post.
Dr. Berger has developed a non-invasive test for diagnosing this wrist injury, which he believes may be as common as an ACL tear in the knee, and the surgical treatment and rehabilitation are straightforward, with 95 percent success.
View the Fovea Sign illustration
Below are some resources describing the condition and its treatment, including a television story, an interview with Jayson Werth, a podcast discussion with Dr. Berger and links to some of his scientific research publications about the injury and its treatment, along with a list of orthopedic surgeons he has trained in this procedure.
Journal of Hand Surgery article on diagnosing the UT split tear.
In Part 1 of an interview conducted earlier this year, Jayson Werth describes his injury and symptoms and how he came to seek treatment from Dr. Berger at Mayo Clinic:
See also Part 2 and Part 3 of his story.
Click here for an extended audio discussion with Dr. Berger.
If you think you may have this type of injury and want to see a physician near you, you may download a list of surgeons who have trained with Dr. Berger in diagnosing and treating these injuries. For information on appointments with Dr. Berger, call 888-509-8773 or contact him by email.
Meanwhile, here are a couple of additional video segments I shot this weekend with Dr. Berger, in which he relates the story of how he discovered this type of injury, as well as how it’s diagnosed and treated:
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A big thanks to Dr. Berger for his work on this.
I’m now searching for #wristpain in twitter for more information.
I’m an active healthy male triathlete. I played 2 hrs of frisbee on vacation and came back with a very sharp pain in my wrist just below my thumb. When I reach and grab or simply lift my arm with it out stretched it feels like the tendon is going to rip off the bone. the pain is very very sharp, then the area goes numb. I never felt any pain at all playing frisbee so I’m not sure how it happened.
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I have been suffering from a left wrist injury for over a year now and none of the local Dr.s have been able to help. I am trying to get a referal to see a Dr. at the Mayo Clinic in Az. I need to get my life back. Thank you Dr. Berger for your research.