Getting Back Into the Game After Testicular Fracture

"We see these kinds of traumatic events in sports," said Dr. Michael Lardon, a San Diego-based sports psychiatrist who works with a variety of Olympic, National Football League, Major League Baseball and PGA Tour athletes. "The question is, how does a person deal with it?"

He says bad experiences on the field of play can sometimes result in post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD.

But is Snyder at risk of PTSD from his experience? Lardon said that Snyder's status as a Major League catcher suggests he may not be.

"For PTSD to occur you need to experience a stress, a trauma, outside the normal range," he said. "If you are talking to a professional catcher, in his life he has been hit all over. ... A big part of it is his perception."

Jack Llewellyn agreed. Llewellyn is founder and president of the Atlanta-based Center for Winning Performance and is the sports psychology consultant credited with helping Atlanta Braves pitcher John Smoltz turn around a slumping career in 1991.

"I don't think [Synder will] have a difficult time with it," he said. "With catchers it's a little bit of a different situation, because catchers are usually perceived as the more rugged guys on a team. They're used to being hit by foul tips."

Still, a testicular fracture is not something that is easily shaken off. In simple terms, a testicular fracture involves a "crack" in the testicle; the organ retains its shape, but it is damaged. Though different from a testicular rupture, which involves a complete hemorrhage of the testicle, a fracture in this delicate organ can be extraordinarily painful -- and may even require surgery, in many cases.

"It is indeed extraordinarily painful," said Dr. Mark Litwin, professor of urology and public health at the University of California at Los Angeles. Litwin adds that the natural vulnerability of testicles is "one of these anatomical curiosities med students never understand."

"The placement of ovaries makes sense. ... [Testicles] are in the worst place you could put them. They really are in harm's way."

Whether Snyder will be able to reconcile the pain of his injury when he crouches back behind the plate will likely be apparent with his reaction to potentially troublesome pitches, Lardon noted.