Back pain is, unfortunately, a nagging piece of life for many in the United States, as well as for others in the world. Now that the professional baseball season in the U.S. is coming to a close with the World Series, it’s a battle between Kansas City Royals and the New York Mets. But that’s not the only battle David Wright is involved with. The 2015 Mets captain and All-Star third baseman is also battling back pain.
For Mets’ Captain David Wright, The Work Begins Long Before The Game
NEW YORK – Managers always show up early. That’s par for the course in a baseball clubhouse, and it doesn’t change in the World Series.
Lineup decisions. Pregame preparation. Coaches’ meetings. That’s part of the routine, and that’s why Mets manager Terry Collins was in his office nearly nine hours before the first World Series game ever played at Citi Field.
Collins showed up at 11:15 in the morning.
David Wright walked through the door around 11:45.
At 32 years old, with a bad back, the Mets’ longest-tenured player is on something close to a manager’s schedule this postseason. For comparison, Curtis Granderson said he arrived closer to 4 p.m. Friday. But Wright doesn’t have that luxury.
To simply play a game, Wright requires hours of stretching and physical therapy.”
Wright was diagnosed in June as having spinal stenosis, and more specifically, lumbar spinal stenosis. That’s the narrowing of the spinal canal in the spine in the lower back area. This condition forced him to miss 4 months of playing time, however, he has returned and playing in the most significant series of games in professional baseball in the U.S. … the World Series. And what is remarkable is the time and effort he puts into getting himself ready before the games. The article mentioned, for example, that Wright works with his therapist to stretch out his back to loosen it up, which is part of his long, 8 hours of prep time before the actual game.
At the time of writing this blog post, the New York Mets win-loss record for the 2015 World Series is 1 win and 3 losses. Another Mets loss and the ring goes to the Kansas City Royals. Can David Wright and the Mets win today and the next two games in Kansas City to win the World Series?
Okay, today’s blog post is really not about Major League Baseball, but the way in which we should approach our back pain, like how David Wright does. He’s serious about getting his back pain in check so that he can play to his fullest potential in the World Series. We should also take a page out of his playbook to combat back pain, so that we can also be optimally functional in the game of life.
