In the opinion of five doctors interviewed by the Daily News, the cyst that formed in Alex “A-Rod” Rodriguez’s hip injury is unlikely to be caused by steroids. The information was made public when suspicions arose that the cyst was steroid-related since a common side-effect of intramuscular steroids is the formation of cysts in muscles, as well as loss of blood supply in the bone (also called avascular necrosis). Director of the New York Road Runners Club, Dr. Lewis Maharam, said that Rodriguez’s constantly changing story about whether or not he was using steroids made them skeptical at first, thinking that his hip problem could possibly be related to steroid abuse.

Dr. Maharam, however, confirms that it was not related after all. He said that the cyst linked to steroids is the avascular necrosis of the femoral head (which is not, technically, a cyst but is described by the lay public as such), and this was not what Rodriguez had.

Hip specialist, Dr. Struan Coleman of the Hospital for Special Surgery, who is familiar with the case but is not treating Rodriguez, said that the fluid from A-Rod’s hip joint was pushed through a tear in his labrum (a cartilage in the hip in the shape of a rubbery ring), forming a cyst outside it. Dr. Coleman further explained that the type of injury that A-Rod has is caused by the anatomy of his hip and was aggravated by the nature of the baseball game, which requires him to do “rotational” hip movements.

He said that this was something that Rodriguez has had for a long time because when the labrum tears, it will take a bit of time for the fluid from the inside of the hip to get pushed through the tear and thereby forming a cyst-like growth outside the labrum. Both Maharam and Coleman believe that it is not likely for A-Rod’s hip injury to have anything to do with his admitting of using steroid injections.

According to Dr. Coleman, to get rid of the pain, the first line of treatment is a shot of cortisone. Eventually, with the help of surgery, which can be scheduled the offseason, the impingement can be corrected. Hip and knee specialist, Dr. Ron Grelsamer of the Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, commented that the tearing of labrals is a fairly common occurrence and that there are various treatment options available before the last resort: an invasive arthroscopic surgery.

Dr. Grelsamer further notes that almost everyone has some form of labral tear. He said that this might be a problem in the hands of the wrong doctors as they can easily cite a labrum tear as a cause for operation or surgery. He added, however, that a real labrum tear can be serious. If all goes well with Alex Rodriguez cyst treatment, he is expected to return sometime in May to play third base for the New York Yankees.

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