At 22 years old, Flyers’ defenseman Ryan Parent has suffered a plethora of injuries not equal to his age. Shoulder surgeries and groin issues have hampered his young career. But on Dec. 26, before a contest in Carolina, Parent quickly left the ice after warm ups and didn’t return. The prognosis — back spasms.
A fairly common injury for athletes. However, Parent has now missed five games with the day-to-day injury and the organization is mum on the severity, leading one to believe that the back problem is either worse than previously thought or something completely different, like sports hernia or yet another groin issue that helped lead to the back spasms.
On Monday, the same day the third-year defender was set to see doctors concerning the injury, the Daily News reported that an inside source stated that Parent has a herniated disc in his back.
“… A team source told the Daily News that Parent has a herniated disc in his back that “could possibly require surgery.”
That news could take Parent out of the day-to-day category and into potentially season ending. Although, herniated discs can vary in seriousness and take anywhere from one to six months to fully heal. Surgery is rare unless the situation has hit a point where the doctor feels that the ruptured disc will not heal on its own.
But just as the herniated disc news hit the papers, Flyers’ general manager Paul Holmgren stormed back, stating that Parent’s injury is not a herniated disc.
According to CSNphilly.com …
“Asked to clarify if rumors of surgery for Parent were true, he [Holmgren] said, simply, “No.”
Yet Holmgren still declined to elaborate on the “day-to-day” injury.
But if it’s not a herniated disc keeping Parent out of the lineup beyond five games, then what is it?
It seems like at 22, degenerate aging is a definite possibility.
Phila.Bright 