Drew is given back injection
Sox downplaying his trip to Boston
FORT MYERS, Fla. - When J.D. Drew arrived at spring training two weeks ago, he mentioned that he had experienced back stiffness in the offseason. He said he was not limited in any way. He was doing baseball activities, and the back was not going to prevent him from continuing to do them.
Until this week, when Drew and the Red Sox made the decision to send him to Boston for an injection in the facet joint in his lower back.
The team and the player say this is a precautionary, proactive measure, to try to ensure that Drew is able to play as much as possible this season. But he does have a herniated disk - that is not in question - and it was that injury that cost him all but two regular-season games after Aug. 17 last year.
"The reason we did it was kind of - I want to explain this right - kind of precautionary," Francona said. "We have some time right now because it's so early in March, and J.D., through getting looked at by some different people, thought this could be a benefit to him. If it worked, we think we thought OK, good. If it didn't seem to do anything, OK, well, it's March 3 or March 2.
"If we run into a problem later this year, maybe we know a little bit quicker where to go."
Drew had the injection in the same area where he tore the sheath around his spine in 2001 with St. Louis.
The herniated disk, which caused severe pain for Drew last season, is still there. It could flare up at any time, though Drew has been upbeat about his back this spring. The stiffness, both in the offseason and this spring, had mostly resulted from long periods of inactivity, like plane or bus rides, or meals in restaurants.
"It was really encouraging," Drew told NESN yesterday morning. "Usually after you get an injection like that, because of the numbing medicine, if you feel relief right away, then they've kind of got it in the right area. Felt really good getting up off the table, so I was very encouraged by that, and think hopefully this could be kind of a long-term benefit."
The injection, administered in Boston by Dr. Bill Palmer, was a facet block. According to the website of Brigham and Women's Hospital's Pain Management Center, a facet block is an injection of local anesthetic and steroid into the joint. "Facet blocks . . . are typically ordered for patients who have pain primarily in their back coming from arthritic changes in the facet joints or for mechanical low back pain," the website reads. If there is a "lasting benefit" from the injection, the patient could have it repeated in the future, according to the site.
That appears to be part of the plan. If Drew finds that the injection helps, then he could get another later in the season if the back problems continue to be an issue.
"He was actually doing real well," Francona said. "The day he left, he was hitting balls onto that street. I just think we felt like it was a good time to do it. We weren't comfortable having it done down here. Bill's so good. There's a reason we want him to do these things. So we just thought, again, we'd take advantage of the earliness of camp and try to get it done."
Drew was expecting to rest for about 72 hours, then take batting practice tomorrow after today's day off. The Sox hope to have him back in the lineup Friday against the Marlins.
This is not the first time Drew has had injections for back pain. He had epidurals last season but told NESN, "Neither one of them seemed to really take good effect. Maybe they helped a little bit, but not a whole lot.
"Been working with a chiropractor. Started talking a little bit about some of the underlying issues and thinking that the facets might be a little bound up. So [I] talked with the training staff a little bit, decided to do an injection in that area to see if that would free up some of the old scar tissue, an old injury, and give me some freer motion in that area.
"Really a win-win situation. I mean, if it doesn't go well, then it's not a big deal. If it goes well, then we kind of get an idea of what's going on."
Francona was clear that Drew was not in danger of needing surgery in the near future. He was also clear that this wasn't a major issue, at least not at the moment.
"It's hard," Francona said. "It's one of those where he wakes up one day, says it grabs him, you rest him. I don't know that it's something that gets progressively worse over time. Because if that's the case, we'd certainly rest him. Sometimes I guess guys with backs make a movement and it grabs you and you miss some time."
Amalie Benjamin can be reached at abenjamin@globe.com. 
