Wednesday, October 06, 2004

Kip Wells has surgery

The Pirates have reported that Kip Wells underwent surgery, though not on his elbow. Sources say that he underwent surgery to repair a carpal tunnel condition that was causing him numbness in his middle finger all season long.

I'm not sure what a pitcher does that would cause carpal tunnel, unless he's playing lots of video games or typing up his kids homework every night. Regardless, I know a few things about the typical carpal tunnel surgery. Essentially, the condition is caused by swelling in the carpal tunnel that in turn causes pinching on a nerve that helps control movement and sensation in your hand. To relieve the pressure on the nerve, they slice open the tunnel. That's about it. It's not really a cure, as the symptoms will come back if you don't change the behavior that caused the condition in the first place. Hopefully, Kip will be fine. As I've said before, his elbow is another matter altogther.

posted by bkopec @ 1:19 PM   3 comments