With all the talk about steroids and performance enhancing products being used I now ask about "surgically enhanced" procedures and the future potential impact.
While not an expert, my sons recent "Tommy John" experience opened my eyes to some interesting data. Tommy John surgery is a modern miracle in regard to the reconstruction of the elbow joint due to a tear of the UCL. Statistics now show that ~90% of those worked on have returned to, or exceeded their pre-surgery velocity levels. It is also documented that there are cases of MLB pitchers that have lost a little velocity in the early portion of their careers have had the surgery done on an "elective" basis and not as a result of an injury.
This is where it gets a little saucy. Since the surgery is not a "repair" procedure but rather a re-constructive event that involves grafting a tendon from another part of the body. This results in strengthening the elbow joint which is necessary to produce velocity. In my eyes the elbow joint has now become bionic because it is not an original part. This is where we open Pandoras box.
Is this in effect, when elective, and not associated with a tear, a potential performance enhancing procedure?
Is there cause for concern that MLB needs to identify the potential of these type procedures in the future?
If you are repairing a part of the body that is injured there is no issue, if you are enhancing a particular function by changing the structure, I see potential issues. A virtual "pitching machine".
I find it encouraging, yet funny, that many sports medicine professionals have said "wait and see, your son will come back throwing harder than he did before he got hurt". I really hope that's the case. In todays world medicine grows by leaps and bounds and unless there is a proactive approach to the possibility of bionic reconstruction I see futuristic issues that closely resemble many of the steroid issues.
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