Bryant opts for 'pretty intense' procedure for back pain
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DENVER -- Rockies designated hitter Kris Bryant checked his list twice to make sure all was in order for him to fly to Los Angeles on Thursday for an ablation procedure on his back.
The move is designed to relieve the pain that has hampered his rehab from the chronic lumbar degenerative disk disease that has limited him to 11 games this year, none since April 12.
“It’s pretty intense,” Bryant said. “But it’s not a crazy recovery period. They actually go into the bone and try to kill the nerves to the vertebrae.”
While no one is excited about a back procedure, it could help Bryant make progress.
Other injury news was happier on Wednesday, including regarding shortstop Ezequiel Tovar (left hip contusion) and utility player Tyler Freeman (left oblique strain). Tovar hit and did fielding drills. Freeman said he could begin an injury rehab assignment this weekend.
“There are some things on the health front that are positive, including KB, where he’s heading,” said manager Bud Black, whose team’s MLB-worst record can fairly be placed partly on injuries, especially to expected mainstays Tovar, second baseman Thairo Estrada and starting pitcher Austin Gomber.
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Bryant hopes his trip to L.A. proves fruitful.
The ablation procedure could have occurred earlier, but doctors saw blood between the vertebrae and tested for infection. (There was none.) Limited by injury each of the first four years of his seven-year, $182 million contract, Bryant tried extensive offseason rehab, rest and epidural treatments.
Sleeplessness and pain to the point of nausea have been “frustrating.”
Bryant has been under the care of Dr. Robert Watkins, an orthopedic spine surgeon. Watkins is not performing the procedure but saw it as the next step after the more conservative methods.
The plan is for Bryant to resume his rehab in short order after the ablation, although there is not a back-on-the-field timetable.
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“Obviously, they’ll try to control your expectations, just because nothing is 100%,” Bryant said. “Everybody reacts differently to it.
“I just told them, I want to do everything I can. So let’s do this. Let’s do that. I’m good. Just keep putting needles and knives in my back. I’m OK with it. So I’ve had a lot of needles in my back the last two weeks.”