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Unconventional Treatment Could Shock Prior, Cubs

by Ron Rapoport, Chicago Sun-Times

April 1, 2004 —A simple cure for the injury to Mark Prior's Achilles tendon could be as close as a podiatrist's office in Des Plaines. Does it matter that the office belongs to the team podiatrist for the White Sox?

"They're trying the conventional things,'' Dr. Lowell Weil, Jr. of the Weil Foot & Ankle Institute said Wednesday about the injury that will keep the Cubs' pitching ace out of action for a yet-to-be-determined amount of time. "If he were with the White Sox, we would be doing shock-wave therapy right away.''

Shock-wave therapy for injuries like Prior's is relatively new in this country, but Weil says he has used the procedure on scores of patients and has had an 85 percent success rate. Frank Thomas once received the treatment for a tendon in his foot, and Jose Valentin had it for a muscle problem. Weil, whose father preceded him as team podiatrist for the White Sox and worked for the Bears for many years, described shock-wave therapy as almost identical to the sort of treatment used to break up kidney stones. High-frequency ultrasound is applied to stimulate the blood supply and promote rapid healing, and the results can be dramatic. Patients often feel no pain and are performing normal functions within a day or two.

"It's non-invasive,'' Weil said, "so there's no risk. If it doesn't work, it just doesn't work.'' Shockwave treatment is common in Europe, Weil said, but there are only about 50 machines in this country, some of which are transported around in SUVs. This may account for the fact that a Cubs official said Wednesday he had never heard of the procedure.

Weil does not want to be seen as second-guessing the Cubs, but when I asked if he would be willing to treat Prior if they asked, he said, "As long as it isn't before the Cubs-Sox series. No, no, just kidding. We wouldn't turn anybody away.''

 

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