Madson good to go after receiving electric treatment in Phoenix

MILWAUKEE - When Ryan Madson had to cut short a warmup session in the bullpen at Nationals Park three weeks ago, he assumed something was wrong with his index finger. Why else would that digit hurt when he tried to throw, not only that night in D.C. but four days later in San Diego when he tried to play catch?

Madson wound up on the disabled list with a sprained finger. Turns out, though, the issue was in his lower forearm, just above the wrist.

Madson discovered this thanks to a visit to his personal trainer, Jay Schroeder, in Phoenix. Schroeder, the man who helped save the reliever's career after three years of recovery from Tommy John surgery, used the same electric recovery treatment to diagnose the problem. And what exactly was the problem?

"It wasn't really explained to me in depth, but I gave my trainer all the information," Madson said. "He searched my arm with the machine and found out there were some disconnections somewhere above the wrist that correlated to the day before. I pinched my wrist, just by bracing to pick up something. But I didn't feel it throwing. I just felt this (pulling on index finger). Everybody was focused on this, and so was I."

Whatever the technical description, just know this: After receiving "accelerated recovery treatment" on both his lower arm and finger for five days, Madson resumed throwing again, and he has felt no pain since.

"I don't know how it works, but after five days of treating it, I had no more pain in my finger," he said. "So that was Monday through Friday (last week). And then on Monday (this week), when I threw, I couldn't get the pain anymore."

Madson threw a 50-pitch bullpen session Thursday in Phoenix and emerged convinced he was good to go. He flew to Milwaukee on Friday and was activated off the DL. He said he was ready to pitch that night, but the Nationals decided to give him one more day, so he'll now be fresh and available to pitch in his typical setup role tonight against the Brewers.

"I would rather he have a soft landing, but he said he's ready to go in any landing," manager Dusty Baker. "So we'll see how the game goes. And the way the series has gone, neither side has scored a whole bunch of runs. ... If he can give me one (inning in a high-leverage spot), fine. Jf not, we'd have to test it."

And what, if anything, does Madson need to do now to prevent this from happening again?

"Just throw correctly," he said. "And don't pinch my wrist. I think the pinching of the wrist is what caused it. He didn't really elaborate, because it didn't matter to him. He just knew it was the problem and solved it. But we got two weeks (of rehab). Probably one more week would've been great. But it was time to come back up and see what happens in the game. I'm fairly confident it will be fine. Jay, he's confident it's going to be fine. So I just need to trust it and throw properly."