Dr. Suzanne Miller, an orthopedic specialist affiliated with the Boston Sports and Shoulder Center and New England Baptist Hospital, said she could not speak to whether tenodesis - which involves detach ing the biceps tendon from the bone, moving it, then reattaching it to either soft tissue or bone - has ever been done on a big-league pitcher. But she said she was not personally aware of a professional athlete who has undergone the procedure and said it "would be on the rarer side."
The recovery time for such a surgery, which Miller said usually is done on people of middle age or older, is "at the very least four to six months." Miller also noted that she has not seen Schilling's medical records.
Will Carroll, who specializes in medical issues for baseballprospectus.com, wrote in an e-mail that he was not aware of tenodesis being done on a major league pitcher except as part of a larger surgery involving tears in the rotator cuff or labrum. Mets medical director David Altchek, called in to mediate the disagreement between the Sox and Schilling, told the parties that he believed Schilling had a partial tear in his rotator cuff, according to multiple sources, and agreed with the more conservative course recommended by the Sox.
Schilling had not spoken about his condition since reporting to camp last Thursday with other pitchers and catchers. He participated in conditioning drills the next afternoon but since has confined his work to the training room. He said he has been arriving at the facility between 6 and 6:30 a.m. and doing exercises designed to strengthen the shoulder and increase his range of motion. Schilling disputed any questions about the appropriateness of him collecting the $8 million salary he signed for in November, noting that he had passed a physical and MRI.
"If some people want to believe this was me taking advantage of the situation financially, I wouldn't be doing it here," Schilling said. "I would have done it for $14 million in at least two other places.
