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Report: Red Sox might have broken state law by having trainer administer Toradol 02.15.13 at 7:08 am ET
By Jerry Spar

According a report by Yahoo! Sports’ Jeff Passan, the Red Sox appear to have broken state law by allowing a trainer to administer injections of the controversial painkiller Toradol to treat players.

(Listen to Passan discuss the situation during his Friday morning appearance with Dennis & Callahan.)

Mike Reinold

While Toradol is a legal substance and not banned by Major League Baseball, a spokesperson for the Massachusetts’ Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulations said that the Massachusetts board of Allied Health Professionals, which regulates trainers, takes the position that “athletic trainers are prohibited from using injectables.” The specific wording of the law is more vague.

Passan’s report credits Curt Schilling and two other sources as saying former Sox trainer Mike Reinold regularly injected players with Toradol for six seasons, from 2006-11.

“I had a Toradol shot almost every single game for the last 10 years of my career,” Schilling said. “It was never administered by a doctor at home or on the road. I didn’t think it was wrong.”

Major League Baseball, which investigated Reinold in 2012, send a league-wide memo on March 8, 2012, strictly prohibiting trainers from injecting Toradol, the report notes, also indicating that other trainers around baseball also were found to have been injecting players.

Schilling, who claims to have had more than 300 Toradol shots over his career, recounted one episode that demonstrated the powerful effects of the drug that has come under fire for its possibly dangerous side effects.

“I slept on a pillow wrong,” Schilling told Yahoo! Sports. “I woke up at 5:30 [a.m.]. I couldn’t move my head. I went to the ballpark at 6:30 for a 1:30 [p.m.] game. Worked for four hours on it. I literally couldn’t move my head. I went to the bullpen and started throwing and I didn’t think there was any way I could pitch.

“Then the Toradol kicked in. I threw a one-hitter and struck out 17.”

Reinold released a statement to Yahoo! Sports in which he cited “patient confidentiality” for not addressing whether or not he injected players.

Said Reinold: “Every medical treatment I provided was under the direction, authority and knowledge of a team physician and appropriately documented. Any suggestion to the contrary would be false.”

Reinold was moved from head trainer to lead physical therapist between the 2011 and ’12 seasons and was not retained after last season, although general manager Ben Cherington said the team has discussed a consulting role with him.

“Every team in baseball is trying to put together the best medical staff we can,” Cherington said. “Every year we review that like we do our scouting staff and player development staff and every part of our operation. That’s what we’re all trying to do. If there are practices going on that we come to see as inadvisable, we stop those. In this particular case, this is not a question of someone using an illegal substance. It’s a question of how it was administered. And we made a change. We have at all times complied with MLB’s directives on the use of Toradol.

“Mike is a talented physical therapist who worked very hard for the Red Sox for a number of years and was part of teams that had a lot of success. He’s got an expertise in the area of pitching and care of pitching, and there’s no doubt he’ll continue to work with Major League Baseball players and players of all ages for years to come.”

Read More: ben cherington, Curt Schilling, mike reinold, Red Sox Print  |  Email  |  Bark It Up!  |  Digg It
  • http://www.facebook.com/melody.mckinstrie.1 Melody McKinstrie

    Well if he were an RN he could administer it and if a doctor was privy to the injection, advised it there should not be a big deal made.  

  • Tonyc

    Shilling certainly seem to be on a mission…

  • mike

    Red Sox Medical Team is an embarrassment year after year…

  • mike

    Red Sox Medical Team is an embarrassment year after year…

  • mike

    Red Sox Medical Team is an embarrassment year after year…

  • Anonymous

    Larry Luchino and his hat rack buddy have morphed into Barnum & Bailey! Except with Barnum & Bailey your performers gave you a better effort.

  • Bruinman86

     I agree.  If he had put this much effort into 38 studios and it’s staff, he might still be in business.

  • rogerroger

    An underlying message here is that this may be an indication of why the Sox’ medical staff has been so abysmal; they appear to prefer stop-gap injections to actual injury treatment and prevention. You would expect physical therapists to administer, you know, physical therapy. 

  • Kgerds

    No big deal!

  • H25

    Some how someway Schilling had to be involved in this.  He has become the Forrest Gump of baseball.  If there is a trendy baseball story in the news he claims he was in the middle of it. 

  • Jimmy Freeze

    Let’s face it…!

    In every pro sport, every owner. GM, Manager, coach, doctor, trainer, and player is pushing the envelope on application of all types of medical treatment to keep the players on the field.  These guys do not get the same medical protocol that a regular citizen gets.
    From drugs, to surgery, to rehab. to hyperbaric chambers…They get a completely different maintenance and recovery regimen than you or I would.

    Athletes are the proving grounds for new procedures…the team physicians dream up new surgery methods, and experimental drug combinations/off label use, and therapies.  How else would Welker recover from ACL in 6-8 months when a normal person takes 12-18 months…now Tommy John Surgery is a 6-8 month procedure, and the repair comes back “stronger” than the original-that used to take 12-18 months, and the player was never the same…

    All of this stuff normally goes on behind the curtain, because these procedures are initially higher risk than mainstream medicine, and may bend rules and regulations in place to protect the general public…not to mention the therapies that use banned substances 

    These procedures are highly proprietary…that’s what differentiates one “knee expert” from the other, and brings in the business to drive a multi-million dollar private specialty practice.  Do you really think James Andrews is that much better with a scalpel than anyone else?  He and a few others have  the secret sauce to better and faster injury outcomes.

    It’s pretty disingenuous to indict Mike Reinhold when he’s working to keep players on the field at the behest of the player, with a wink/nod from management, and some sort of guidance from the team MD’s

  • juan

    Worst medical staff in sports history. 

  • San Diego Dreamer

    Someone help me please, Is there a story here?

  • http://www.facebook.com/pete.lincoln.338 Pete Lincoln

    One of the reason trainers inject it is because not a single MLB team, including the Red Sox, have a full time Doctor on the staff  and the part timers show too late to give the injection.

    Reinold BTW is the same guy Schilling said offered him HGH. 

    His being let go after an MLB investigation is yet another story broken by reporters outside of Boston.  The Globe and Herald have both ignored the Toradol story despite it almost killing Buchholz last year.

    Papelbon says the Phillies do not permit Toradol use due to it’s side effects which are more serious than other NSAID’s.

    Getting an injection before each start is not an approved use of Toradol which is approved only for short term acute pain.  It’s safety for weekly injections before starts has not been studied. 

  • http://www.facebook.com/pete.lincoln.338 Pete Lincoln

     MLB investigation.  Violation of state law.  Linkage to same guy who was alleged to have offered HGH to Schilling.  Improper use of a drug with serious side effects to enhance performance.  Yeah, thats a story..

  • http://www.facebook.com/pete.lincoln.338 Pete Lincoln

     Papelbon and Buchholz were the first to report on use of Toradol

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