Rotator cuff injuries are the most common among professional pitchers. However, these injuries can be treated conservatively, where a torn MCL requires an operation. To grasp just how powerful an injury this is, realize a major league pitcher can t use a crutch, while a basketball player with an ACL tear can eventually return to the court wearing a knee brace and perform at the NBA level. An MCL tear will end a pitcher s season, but not his career. He can expect to come back just as strong as when last on the mound.
Pitchers can toss after four months, and throw off a mound after seven.
After a year away from the game and successful rehab, the radar could once again read in the nineties. The HSS Sports Medicine Center is staffed by a team of healthcare profes-sionals dedicated to the care of active and athletic men and women. Internationally renowned physicians, physical therapists, exercise physiologists, athletic trainers, nutritionists and nurses with extensive experience in the care of the athlete are all members of the sports medicine center. HSS is an academic teaching hospital affiliated with Weill Medical College-Cornell University. The HSS Research Institute is internationally recognized as a leader in the investigation of musculoskeletal and autoimmune diseases.