Chicago Cubs: Darvish is tougher than Yu think

After getting chastised by fans all season, a recent MRI uncovered the underlying cause of Yu Darvish’s struggles and constant pain in his arm.

Earlier this season, the Chicago Cubs shut down big right-hander Yu Darvish for the rest of the 2018 season. He received big-time flak from fans and the media due to the mysterious nature of his injury.

However, as is the case with most injuries, the player generally knows his body best. His cautious approach in his comeback efforts, while viewed with skepticism and frustration, has been validated given the results of recent medical tests.
First and foremost, I’m no doctor.  I didn’t even stay at a fancy hotel last night.  However, what I do understand is trying to throw a baseball as hard as you can while your body is betraying you.

We are taught from a young age to be tough, fight through injuries and ignore pain as long as you can still throw effectively.  Our dads tell us, our coaches tell us, and most importantly, our testosterone-filled brains tell us every time we toe the rubber.

Chicago Cubs: Money doesn’t change an athlete’s body

This is the reason we now have little league pitch counts, high school innings limits and a pitch counter in every on screen scorebox every time we watch a game on TV. We now take extra precautions to ensure the health of pitchers, whether they’re 12, 17 or 30.

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So, why then, when a pitcher signs a 100 million dollar guaranteed contract with our favorite team, are we so quick to throw that caution to the wind and label him as “soft,” “weak,” or other more derisive words meant to emasculate him?
Why don’t we believe him when he says he hurts?
The answer is simple – most fans haven’t had the kind of injuries these guys fight through on a daily basis.

We don’t believe professional athletes are truly hurt or the injury is serious unless something is broken or torn.  Ironically, in our daily lives, we grimace getting out of bed, grabbing Doritos from the pantry or getting off the toilet if we move the wrong way.

The other piece to this phenomenon is sometimes you are your best doctor.  You know what you’re feeling and how you’re supposed to feel.  You also know when something isn’t right, especially when you’ve been throwing a ball 95 MPH for more than a decade. An X-ray or MRI can’t always see everything, but you can certainly feel everything.

Chicago Cubs: Sometimes, you just know something is wrong

When I tore my labrum and rotator cuff at 24, the doctor didn’t see it in an X-ray or conventional MRI.  He told me he found no structural damage and suggested PT since surgery wasn’t necessary despite the fact I knew something was seriously wrong.

I went through 12 weeks of PT and still knew my arm wasn’t right.  I told him so.  At that point, he believed me and I had an arthrogram done, the dye injected MRI that makes it easier to see issues with soft tissue. He found a labral tear after doing the arthrogram and we scheduled surgery.

Funny thing is, when he cut me open and looked at everything, he also found a torn rotator cuff and the bone spur that was responsible for tearing a ligament when inflamed from throwing. He repaired everything, I went through PT, and was able to throw again nine months later.

My point here is that doctors can’t see everything.  Despite the marvels of modern medicine, we are still our own best doctors, and sometimes we know when something just isn’t right.  You don’t even have to be a world-class athlete to feel when something isn’t right.  Although, when you are, like Yu Darvish, you know immediately when something isn’t right and how far you can push your body before it goes from uncomfortable to just plain foolish.