Steven Gerrard has to decide whether he should give his broken toe that cortisone injection which will numb the pain and allow him to play the crucial Euro 2008 game against Israel.To inject or not to inject is the question.Whether tis nobler in the mind for Gerrard to suffer a bit of short term pain for long term glory or whether he should just give up arms against the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune and wait till till it is safe for him to play for Liverpool again is what he has to decide.
Dr Panther (a specialist at the London clinic, Pure Sports Medicine) talking about the long term health risks involved said “anecdotal, apocryphal stories” of cortisone ruining careers were history. “It’s safe in small doses, which is how it is given these days. Large doses over a long period, especially in the same area, may have led to softening of cartilage and bone and chronic problems in the past. But a one-off jab is safe.”
More analyses of Gerrard’s dilemma can be found in this article in the Independent here..