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Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Boston Globe: Researchers tag likely culprit as cause of shoulder injuries

No truth to the rumor the Sox brass have submitted Matsuzaka for the program…

Using a computer-controlled cadaver to simulate a pitcher on the mound, Boston researchers are gaining insights into the causes of baseball shoulder problems — which derail more major leaguers than just about any other injury.

In the study, the reanimated bodies duplicate the throwing motions of actual pitchers, but the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center scientists say their findings reach beyond professional baseball and may help countless weekend warriors, as well as high school and college athletes, recover from similar injuries or prevent them altogether.

Mattbert Posted: April 12, 2011 at 09:31 PM | 47 comment(s) Login to Bookmark
Tags: obituaries

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1. Eric P. Posted: April 12, 2011 at 11:47 PM (#3794987)

Reports that the test had to be put on hold because the pitcher was suffering from dead arm are unconfirmed.

2. Lassus Posted: April 12, 2011 at 11:54 PM (#3794994)

Sabermetrics, again! Curse you, Moneyball!

3. The District Attorney Posted: April 13, 2011 at 12:01 AM (#3795011)

New research reveals that the culprit is actually "dumb-ass headfirst slides."

4. Foster Posted: April 13, 2011 at 12:19 AM (#3795047)

Well, there you go: they can do this with me when I die if they want.

5. Steve Treder Posted: April 13, 2011 at 12:20 AM (#3795051)

a computer-controlled cadaver to simulate a pitcher on the mound

The Giants were doing that way back in the 1980s. His name was Mike LaCoss.

6. villageidiom Posted: April 13, 2011 at 12:26 AM (#3795064)

Well, there you go: they can do this with me when I die if they want.

What if a doctor decides to let you die rather than save you, just to make another cadaver available for this? I hear there's a nonzero chance of this.

7. The Ghost of Sox Fans Past

Posted: April 13, 2011 at 12:32 AM (#3795075)

I have been unwilling to sign on to be an organ donor. Call me a wimp, but stuff I've heard about harvesting someone's organs for donation make me uneasy.

8. Foster Posted: April 13, 2011 at 12:35 AM (#3795082)

What if a doctor decides to let you die rather than save you, just to make another cadaver available for this? I hear there's a nonzero chance of this.

Well, no, I'd want to be clearly most sincerely dead before my intentions are revealed.

Before the pitching thing, I'd want any usable organs harvested. Then after the pitching thing, they can give me to the necrophiliacs, then throw me into the ocean for the fish to eat.

I want a very efficient afterlife.

9. cardsfanboy

Posted: April 13, 2011 at 12:53 AM (#3795125)

Great first they made the zombies faster in movies like 28 days later, now they are taking away our pitching jobs.

10. Infinite Yost (Voxter)

Posted: April 13, 2011 at 12:54 AM (#3795127)

####, the Red Sox have four or five cadavers on the mound in any given week.

11. Infinite Yost (Voxter)

Posted: April 13, 2011 at 01:03 AM (#3795145)

I don't see the problem if there's informed consent. It's a little icky to think about, but then so is brain surgery.

12. Monty Posted: April 13, 2011 at 01:09 AM (#3795169)

(Please excuse me if I underestimate the difficulty/cost/logistics of such a practice. I'll listen to any argument to justify this level of misguided priorities...)

I view that as a challenge, so I'm going to put forth the argument that cadavers are not, in fact, all that scarce. Surely we can spare a few for baseball research.

Or, more seriously, they might be using cadavers that have already had their eyeballs and internal organs removed. You probably don't need the whole cadaver for this sort of thing.

...look, I'm not the one making computer-controlled cadavers. I'm not on trial here!

13. DLPA Posted: April 13, 2011 at 01:41 AM (#3795235)

Reports that the test had to be put on hold because the pitcher was suffering from dead arm are unconfirmed.

Booooooooo.

14. Sebastian

Posted: April 13, 2011 at 01:51 AM (#3795262)

Using cadavers for baseball research? Is that not disturbing to anyone else?

When they were learning how to stitch up Schilling’s foot I was fine with it, but if a computer-controlled cadaver is something that exists outside a computer then I’m more than just disturbed.

15. Magnum RA Posted: April 13, 2011 at 02:03 AM (#3795288)

I had a computer controlled cadaver cut my grass all last summer. It was way too ####### hot for me out there.

16. Srul Itza Posted: April 13, 2011 at 02:37 AM (#3795330)

Using a computer-controlled cadaver

Sounds like a cyborg to me -- I'll be back!

The reanimated bodies duplicate the throwing motions of actual pitchers, -- and then go out looking for BRAAIINNZZZ

17. What did Billy Ripken have against ElRoy Face? Posted: April 13, 2011 at 02:48 AM (#3795336)

Am I the only one who's eagerly awaiting the first Broadway show with computer-controlled cadavers?

18. Downtown Bookie

Posted: April 13, 2011 at 03:04 AM (#3795341)

OK, so you put an expansion team of computer-controlled cadavers in the AL West. Where do they finish in the standings?

DB

19. Neil Kinnock...Lord Palmerston! (Orinoco) Posted: April 13, 2011 at 03:12 AM (#3795342)

so you put an expansion team of computer-controlled cadavers in the AL West. Where do they finish in the standings?

they might be using cadavers that have already had their eyeballs and internal organs removed.

So they would be blind and have no heart...

above Seattle, but that's about it.

20. bads85 Posted: April 13, 2011 at 03:15 AM (#3795344)

Am I the only one who's eagerly awaiting the first Broadway show with computer-controlled cadavers

It sure felt that "American Idiot" was done that way.

21. Tuque

Posted: April 13, 2011 at 03:28 AM (#3795348)

a computer-controlled cadaver

I'm not disturbed. I am ####### stoked. That is awesome.

22. Fred Lynn Nolan Ryan Sweeney Agonistes Posted: April 13, 2011 at 03:37 AM (#3795351)

so you put an expansion team of computer-controlled cadavers in the AL West. Where do they finish in the standings?

they might be using cadavers that have already had their eyeballs and internal organs removed.

So they would be blind and have no heart...
above Seattle, but that's about it.

Billy Beane should have never written that book.*

* "How I Did It," by Victor Frankenstein

23. PreservedFish Posted: April 13, 2011 at 03:50 AM (#3795355)

Using a computer-controlled cadaver to simulate a pitcher on the mound,

What a start! Dare I read on?

24. rlc Posted: April 13, 2011 at 04:09 AM (#3795363)

Sounds like a cyborg

I hope Cy Borg has a less disappointing career than Cy Clone did.

25. Walt Davis Posted: April 13, 2011 at 04:45 AM (#3795378)

Zombie Fever -- Catch It!!

26. Monty Posted: April 13, 2011 at 04:54 AM (#3795380)

27. Chicago Joe

Posted: April 13, 2011 at 05:07 AM (#3795387)

Using a computer-controlled cadaver to simulate a pitcher on the mound,

At least they didn't use him (it?) to stimulate the pitcher.

28. Never Give an Inge (Dave) Posted: April 13, 2011 at 05:34 AM (#3795393)

Using cadavers for baseball research? Is that not disturbing to anyone else? Can't we be harvesting organs and tissue, stem cells, eyeballs... anything for more important things than baseball research? Really. WTF?

(Please excuse me if I underestimate the difficulty/cost/logistics of such a practice. I'll listen to any argument to justify this level of misguided priorities...)

In addition to the points raised by others, MLB funded the grant to pay for the research.

29. Baldrick Posted: April 13, 2011 at 06:01 AM (#3795402)

This thread has been good. But I clicked here expecting it to be epic.

C'mon people. Bring on the puns.

30. Ave, Xerac, morituri te salutant Posted: April 13, 2011 at 08:22 AM (#3795424)

Using cadavers may have grave consequesnces. And let's hope the results of this research doesn't get buried in some obscure medical journal. I do have a feeling the research may lead to a dead end, however.

31. Walt Davis Posted: April 13, 2011 at 09:05 AM (#3795425)

What are we going to learn that we didn't learn from Dallas Green's experiments using live pitchers.

32. Dangerous Dean Posted: April 13, 2011 at 03:15 PM (#3795567)

Was this cadaver someone who Dusty Baker killed through his atrocious overuse of young pitchers?

33. Ave, Xerac, morituri te salutant Posted: April 13, 2011 at 03:52 PM (#3795606)

Cod this be the ushering in of the new dead ball era?

34. philevans3154 Posted: April 13, 2011 at 03:54 PM (#3795609)

Using a computer-controlled cadaver to simulate a pitcher on the mound

Glad to see Jose Lima making a comeback.

35. snapper (history's 42nd greatest monster) Posted: April 13, 2011 at 04:02 PM (#3795612)

Boston Globe: Researchers tag likely culprit as cause of shoulder injuries

I have read the actual article and watched the accompanying video, and I have two disappointing things to report:

1) When they say "cadaver," they mean "skeleton." And not even a whole skeleton.
2) The "dead arm" line appears in the article itself. In fact, it's in the first sentence.

You see, that's your problem right there. This guy is dead. And missing all his muscles and tendons, and part of his skeleton. That's why his shoulder keeps getting hurt.

36. Pat Rapper's Delight (as quoted on MLB Network) Posted: April 13, 2011 at 04:20 PM (#3795621)

I didn't RTFA, but did these researchers include talking to Josh Hamilton about the role third base coaches play in shoulder injuries?

37. LionoftheSenate Posted: April 13, 2011 at 04:20 PM (#3795622)

I have been unwilling to sign on to be an organ donor. Call me a wimp, but stuff I've heard about harvesting someone's organs for donation make me uneasy.

For most major organs, the donor has to be "alive" in order to provide the best odds for a successful organ transplant. So yea, donors are not always, or in fact, often not "dead".

38. Crispix Attacksel Rios Posted: April 13, 2011 at 04:29 PM (#3795626)

Herbert West, Pitching Coach

39. Der Komminsk-sar Posted: April 13, 2011 at 04:32 PM (#3795632)

Seems like the fix is banning researchers tag.

40. Random Transaction Generator Posted: April 13, 2011 at 05:03 PM (#3795654)

Nice use of the "Obitiuaries" tag.

41. ellsbury my heart at wounded knee Posted: April 13, 2011 at 05:54 PM (#3795711)

I have been unwilling to sign on to be an organ donor. Call me a wimp, but stuff I've heard about harvesting someone's organs for donation make me uneasy.

This is one of the most pernicious, crazy myths out there. It's like suddenly we decide to forget everything we know about doctors when it comes to this issue. As someone who's worked closely with physicians for years, I can tell you that they work like crazy to keep people alive. For every single doctor I've ever met, the patient in front of them is always their top priority. If anything, many probably do too much to keep people alive, prolonging someone's life when they're in pain and beyond hope, and the patient would probably rather be dead than continue to suffer, but they can't because they're too messed up to communicate. Most times physicians don't even know if the person is a donor or not until after brain or cardiac death.

Now, I don't think people should have to explain their decision to be an organ donor or not - it's a totally personal decision - but I think the fear that doctors won't do as much for you as they would for a non-donor is unfounded.

42. rlc Posted: April 13, 2011 at 05:55 PM (#3795713)

the reanimated bodies duplicate the throwing motions of actual pitchers

Once again the different regulatory climate in Canada has created a competitive imbalance; the Blue Jays have already had a lich in their rotation for years.

43. Never Give an Inge (Dave) Posted: April 13, 2011 at 06:02 PM (#3795722)

Glad to see Jose Lima making a comeback.

I'm not sure if you know this, but Jose Lima is actually dead.

44. ellsbury my heart at wounded knee Posted: April 13, 2011 at 06:11 PM (#3795729)

For most major organs, the donor has to be "alive" in order to provide the best odds for a successful organ transplant. So yea, donors are not always, or in fact, often not "dead".

Depends what you mean by "living" or "dead". Most people view those whose brains have ceased functioning, and whose vital processes are only sustained by machines as in fact, dead. However, some physiological and biochemical processes can still continue for a time with the aid of those machines.

45. Mattbert Posted: April 13, 2011 at 06:29 PM (#3795742)

Nice use of the "Obituaries" tag.

Why, thank you kindly.

That's about all I can take credit for in posting this. My mother-in-law, who I think combs the Globe daily at breakfast in search of items that might interest me, sent me the story. So a tip of the hat to MILbert, the best MIL a guy could ask for.

46. philevans3154 Posted: April 14, 2011 at 02:17 AM (#3796492)

I'm not sure if you know this, but Jose Lima is actually dead.

Yeah, that's kind of the joke. He tried to make comebacks by going to an independent league, Korea, that league for old guys. And now...

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Boston Globe: Researchers tag likely culprit as cause of shoulder injuries

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