Jose Iglesias Has Bilateral Leg Weakness

[Guest]

Leg weakness can be a diagnosis, but it is the symptom of a problem. It is not a condition these athletes did something stupid to get. Why make fun of it?

 

Old Nurse, you are of course correct that any injury that causes an athlete to miss 4-6 months of his or her career is serious. I'm certain that everyone wishes Iglesias a good recovery and a good career, as long as he goes 0-4 with a dropped double play ball every game against the Twins.

 

News reports make it sound like Iglesias' stress fractures have been around for a while, dating back to his Boston days. News reports do not, however, seem to refer to "leg weakness." That's a TD inside joke based on the use of the words "bilateral" and "legs," which dredge up bad memories, to which we all now try to laugh about. We're all glad that reports of "bilateral leg weakness" in Joe Mauer a few years ago have not appeared to be permanent.

 

Regarding Iglesias' injury, I'm not a doctor, nor do I play one on TV, but I'll stick my "leg" out and say that there may be many causes for stress fractures, but the most likely causes are overuse, insufficient rest and muscle imbalances. Playing baseball could actually be the final straw, even if played on a soft surface, if he had been doing a lot of straight-ahead fitness training during the offseason, such as running and weightlifting, which caused his body to be under general stress, and then the repetitive lateral and twisting motions involved in playing shortstop during spring training proved to be too much for the stressed muscles and tendons to handle. I would also opine - without research - that stress fractures may be more common in younger athletes, because they may have less awareness of their physical limits, causing them to push on when a more experienced athlete might back off, and because sometimes their musculoskeletal systems may not be completely developed, making them more susceptible.

[old nurse]

Old Nurse, you are of course correct that any injury that causes an athlete to miss 4-6 months of his or her career is serious. I'm certain that everyone wishes Iglesias a good recovery and a good career, as long as he goes 0-4 with a dropped double play ball every game against the Twins.

 

News reports make it sound like Iglesias' stress fractures have been around for a while, dating back to his Boston days. News reports do not, however, seem to refer to "leg weakness." That's a TD inside joke based on the use of the words "bilateral" and "legs," which dredge up bad memories, to which we all now try to laugh about. We're all glad that reports of "bilateral leg weakness" in Joe Mauer a few years ago have not appeared to be permanent.

 

Regarding Iglesias' injury, I'm not a doctor, nor do I play one on TV, but I'll stick my "leg" out and say that there may be many causes for stress fractures, but the most likely causes are overuse, insufficient rest and muscle imbalances. Playing baseball could actually be the final straw, even if played on a soft surface, if he had been doing a lot of straight-ahead fitness training during the offseason, such as running and weightlifting, which caused his body to be under general stress, and then the repetitive lateral and twisting motions involved in playing shortstop during spring training proved to be too much for the stressed muscles and tendons to handle. I would also opine - without research - that stress fractures may be more common in younger athletes, because they may have less awareness of their physical limits, causing them to push on when a more experienced athlete might back off, and because sometimes their musculoskeletal systems may not be completely developed, making them more susceptible.

 

Thank you. A lot better information than "he's done"