Wriddhiman Saha will undergo surgery on his right shoulder in Manchester at the end of July or the 1st week of August for a posterosuperior labral tear.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Wriddhiman Saha will undergo surgery on his right shoulder in Manchester “at the end of July or the 1st week of August” for “a posterosuperior labral tear” — a torn cartilage in layman’s terms — that was first detected in February this year. It is learnt that the usual recovery time from a labral tear surgery is at least four to six months. So, Saha, who was excluded from the squad for the England Test series, will also miss the India’s tour Down Under in December 2018-January 2019.
Andy Murray is a high-profile example of how a labral tear can affect a career. In case of the former World No. 1 tennis player though, he was suffering from a hip labral tear, which kept him out of the circuit for almost a year. He had surgery in January this year. As for Saha, his shoulder is affected.
The BCCI posted the timeline of Saha’s injury on its website. It said that the Bengal stumper reported to the NCA on January 29 after the South Africa tour, with pain in the upper left hamstring. He simultaneously complained of right shoulder pain. An “MRI scan in February” revealed a “labral tear”. Saha was given an “ultrasound guided injection” on the advice of Dr Srikanth Narayanaswamy, a sports physician. The BCCI advisory added that following the injection and a rehabilitation process at the NCA, Saha was discharged on March 19, “having fully recovered from his hamstring and shoulder injuries”. He went on to play the IPL for Sunrisers Hyderabad, but on May 7, “he fell twice on his shoulder jarring the joint”.
Another round of treatment followed under the supervision of his IPL physio and “a second Ultrasound guided injection” was administered. Saha was rested for the next five IPL games, as he underwent rehab “under the care of the franchise”. As his condition improved, he returned to the IPL.
During this period, Saha visited the NCA head physio, Ashish Kaushik, who concluded that “its presentation was similar to how it had been in late January/early February” following the assessment of the cricketer’s right shoulder. Kaushik informed the SRH physio about his assessment and the rehab continued. The Indian team physio (Patrick Farhart) too, was “informed of this sequence of events”.
On May 25, however, Saha sustained a right thumb fracture after being hit by a Shivam Mavi snorter. Three days later, accompanied by the Team India physio, he consulted Dr Sudhir Warrier, who concluded that the thumb injury didn’t require surgery. The BCCI release said: “At this time, he complained of no shoulder pain or stiffness.”
According to the cricket board timeline, Saha once again spoke about “experiencing pain and restriction of movement in his right shoulder” upon reporting at the NCA on July 3. An MRI next day “revealed that his labral tear had worsened as compared to his previous scan”.
On July 6, following a consultation with Dr Dinshaw Pardiwala, a Mumbai-based orthopaedic surgeon, “another steroid injection” was advised to assist recovery. Dr Pardiwala also said that “surgery would be necessary”, should the injury not respond to the injection. After five days of rehab, when Saha’s condition didn’t improve, “he was declared unfit on the 13th of July and the India team management was informed of the same”.
