Angels pitcher Jered Weaver is using a bone stimulator, which is not nearly as dirty as it sounds. (Still frame of video shot by ESPN)
Jered Weaver mentioned last week that he was using a non-intrusive device called a “bone stimulator” on his broken elbow.
Albert Pujols used one in 2011 to heal from a wrist fracture. That injury was supposed to knock him out 4-6 weeks. The recovery time was cut in half.
Dr. David Geier, an orthopaedic surgeon and sports medicine specialist in Charleston, South Carolina, told me the device has been in use for about 10 years and “there’s not a lot of great data for those.”
The mechanics are fairly simple, Geier said: It’s a black box that delivers a pulse to the affected area, either electronically or via ultrasound.
“The thought is, it stimulates bones to heal faster,” he said. “It won’t make you heal in two days when it could be three months, but if it gets you back a week faster, it’s worth the cost when you’re paying kids all this money. There’s not a lot of data, but there’s no downside to it at all. They tweak the ways energy is delivered, but the idea has been around for a while.”
A couple notes for a Tuesday morning:
• Troy Percival might have a role in the organization in his future, reports FoxSports.com.
• Bobby Abreu is not officially retired and still thinks he can help a team.
• The Angels might miss Matt Harrison when the Rangers visit next week. Harrison’s had two cortisone injections in his back recently.
• More AL West news: I think last weekend’s Astros-Angels series took some momentum from the Astros. Read the first paragraph of the Houston Chronicle’s game story from Oakland last night.
• If you live in California and have watched television lately, you’ve probably caught the new ads for the California Lottery. I was drawn to the haunting a capella cover of California’ Dreamin by Scala & Kolacny Brothers, who are not brothers but rather a Belgian all-women’s choir (the brothers Kolacny conduct the choir and play the piano, and apparently take all the gender-bending credit in the group name). The group has covered a number of American pop classics. YouTube has a playlist:
