Will Carroll at BP, submitted without comment:
I remember when The Great Billy Spiers dealt with a bad back for most of his career and towards the end, it just wasn't feasible for him to go any more. Cortizone shots were no longer effective and that is when, sadly, it ended for the Great One.
So when I played ball, I felt a really bad twinge in my lower back one season that I paid no attention to at all. I simply kept on playing and bearing up to the pain. I had a good season, but that winter I bent down to pick up a box and my back absolutely gave way. Doctor said it was a bulging disc and perhaps with treatment it would go away. If not, he'd have to cut on me (which I was told by friends who had back surgery that it never works to have them cut on you... never!). I went to a Chiropractor and he was able to give me some recommendations to strengthen my back (by actually strengthening my ab muscles). He also told me that the disc would always be bad so I had to learn how to recover quickly using several treatment techniques I could do on my own. Namely, the icing techniques (20 minutes on, 20 minutes off, repeat, rinse, lather). So he told me I could keep on playing, avoid surgery and just manage my back problems for myself.
I didn't play major league baseball, so what I did was not as intense as what a Roy Oswalt does. All I know was some seasons I had no problems, others I had to daily get myself ready to roll out of bed without feeling a lot of pain from over extending myself. It just came and went... a lot. I finally quit playing the season I just could not maintain any more and it was just miserable to deal with back pain and this bulging disc. I still refuse to get cut on, but now I just don't over extend myself doing too much in terms of hard physical stuff. In fact, I don't even do moderate to light physical stuff and my body shows it.
Any way, Oswalt may be in for a world of maintaining from now on and if done right and without any deviation and surgery, he'll be fine most of the time. Other days, he'll just have to deal with the back going out on him and of course they'll probably go the route of cortizone shots like they did with Spiers (and others). I never did that, can't afford that sort of stuff. But management and keeping oneself in shape especially around the ab area will really help a lot.
