Lincecum Story

by SpinMD on Jan 15, 2007 8:22 PM PST Comment 21 comments

Apologies if this has been linked already, but ran across an interesting story about Tim Linceum in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. This paragraph was intriguing:

Lincecum has a freakishly resilient arm. There were reports he was throwing long toss the day after a 190-pitch outing. But despite his heavy workload and the fact he doesn't even ice his arm (which is unheard of), he's never had an arm injury.

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Lincecum Story

It's not possible, he must be on steroids.

by Kent on Jan 15, 2007 9:17 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Re: Lincecum Story

Or the first uber-product of gene therapy

I'm always thinking ahead, like a carpenter that builds stairs. http://sportsnomad.blogspot.com/

by sam urai on Jan 15, 2007 10:37 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Re: Lincecum Story

I still hope the Giants have him on a better training plan that includes icing the shoulder. That just seems like asking for arm trouble.

Keeping a close eye on the Giants AAA players

by Andy In Fresno on Jan 15, 2007 10:08 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Icing

What evidence do we have that icing a joint after repetitive use actually prevents anything? Cold reduces blood flow to the area, so may reduce swelling if any is present, but it also reduces elasticity of connective tissue such as tendons and ligaments. Not sure why you would want to do that. Is there any reason why you would want to reduce blood flow to a healthy joint?

by DrBGiantsfan on Jan 15, 2007 10:15 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Re: Icing

I thought the idea was to ice the muscles to reduce inflammation. Putting ice directly on the shoulder happens with those big wraps, but when I was pitching, I always wrapped ice packs to the upper arm.

Since pitching always "injures" the arm, and immediate icing reduces inflammation, icing would allow the recovery process to commence faster than usual, right? My high school coach's program had us pitch a game, ice the muscles that day, and then do a long distance run the next day. I remember him telling us we had to get the blood flowing after icing, so that seems to go along with what you're saying.

David
SPORTSZILLA - kickass sports writing

by David Arnott on Jan 15, 2007 10:29 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Re: Icing

A few years ago, I got a chance to talk to Stan Conte. He stated that there was no evidence to support icing for sire arms, but it did help with tramatic injuries like a sprained ankle. I don't think he mentioned any harmful effects either. He said their policy was to leave it up to the players - those who wanted to ice could, and the team didn't care if they didn't. Same with heat balms.

Would restricting blood flow possibly prevent arthritic bone growth? [especially on the clavicle?]

The Dodgers are evil.

by irwin on Jan 16, 2007 9:50 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Where's the Science on This?

This is an interesting topic...we've got a doctor questioning the efficacy of icing, which has become a ritual, especially for the arms and shoulders of starting pitchers, at all levels of baseball, starting around high school.

If DrB is on to something here, perhaps it goes some distance toward explaining why five-man rotations are the norm in baseball today. A generation or two in the past, four-man rotations (with workhorses throwing over 250 innings per season) were the standard. Icing in the old days was much less prevalent.

Could it be that icing is accomplishing nothing but the further pampering of today's pitchers, who get more rest, more money, and still suffer just as many or more injuries than in the old days?

Is icing, with the attendant loss of normal blood flow, actually prolonging the healing process between starts, thus adding an additional day to the rest cycle of today's starters?

by Moggeee on Jan 16, 2007 10:51 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Re: Where's the Science on This?

I'm no doctor, but from what I understand the body's healing process -- sending blood and other fluids to traumatized areas -- is not necessarily the best thing -- inflammation can cause more damage than it's meant to heal. As with an allergic reaction, it's an over-compensation. Perhaps I've heard wrong; any doctors on this thread who can enlighten us about inflammation?

Never mind whatever I do!!! Fan is my tresure!!!

by leftymalo on Jan 16, 2007 10:57 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Science vs Folklore

Icing a joint after vigorous use does make some intuitive sense. Reducing swelling and inflammation would be the physiological explanation. OTOH, there are lots of intuitively sensible things in healthcare that are just plain wrong. Is the increased blood flow and probably swelling that occur after vigorous use, but no injury, really a bad thing? I'm guessing nobody has done a randomized, controlled trial on this subject.

Just asking because I'm not sure we should be quick to condemn Tim Lincecum's training regimen if it's working for him with lack of evidence for efficacy of icing.

by DrBGiantsfan on Jan 16, 2007 4:55 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Re: Science vs Folklore

Is it working for him because icing doesn't work or does it work solely because he is still young? If so, then will it catch up to him quicker then if he was following conventional wisdom?

Keeping a close eye on the Giants AAA players

by Andy In Fresno on Jan 16, 2007 10:36 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Re: Science vs Folklore

But why would conventional wisdom apply to a Cyborg From Outer Space?

He doesn't need to ice because <i>his blood is made of ice</i>, and he doesn't need to heat because of his electronic heating units automatically set to maintain ideal blood flow through temperature control under all physical conditions.

Coming to you by proxy

by howtheyscored on Jan 17, 2007 1:13 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

But What if...

But what if he was infected with a neurolytic pathogen, possibly from Sweeney's locker? This would disable his neural links to the rest of the hive mind, thus making him susceptible to assimilation. Conventional wisdom may be his only hope.

Keeping a close eye on the Giants AAA players

by Andy In Fresno on Jan 17, 2007 9:04 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Re: But What if...

But why would Sweeney do a thing like that??? If my faith in Mark Sweeney and/or his locker must be brought into question, so must my faith in the universe at large...

However, if he picked that kind of thing up from some kind of neurolytic space hooker, well that's a different story. Then, we might need ice.

Coming to you by proxy

by howtheyscored on Jan 17, 2007 12:46 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

WTF?

by DrBGiantsfan on Jan 17, 2007 10:13 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Re: Lincecum Story

I always figured it was to reduce the swelling. Usually heat is followed with a muscle strain, so do pitchers use heat like a whirlpool bath ,a few days after icing it, and does that help the muscle itself only or does it do anything for connective tissue as well?

Keeping a close eye on the Giants AAA players

by Andy In Fresno on Jan 15, 2007 10:25 PM PST reply actions 0 recs