Pain

Orioles right fielder Chris Davis missed his second straight game Friday night, but he said he's feeling much better from a right trapezius strain and was certain the injury wasn't one that could place him on the disabled list. Davis said he believes the pain came from making a diving catch on Wednesday in Seattle. He woke up Thursday with a stiff neck and made about 10 throws before batting practice before pain in his neck increased. “It was just one of those things where the more I threw the worse it got,” Davis said.

A dramatic change in how Maryland pays for substance abuse treatment programs is leaving some providers short on cash and displacing more than 200 drug and alcohol addicts, even as the state's four-year transition to a new funding system has significantly increased the number of people getting help. Providers say they're worried that the instability will cause recovering addicts to lose their tenuous grip on sobriety when at least three treatment centers close their doors this summer, as the facilities deal with the unintended consequences of a state effort to broaden services.

Thursday's off day - which halted a span of 20 games in 20 days for the Orioles - was a needed respite for everyone on the club. But perhaps nobody appreciated it more than J.J. Hardy, who also had Wednesday off because manager Buck Showalter said his shortstop was dealing with a "barky" right shoulder. Truthfully, Hardy said Saturday, his shoulder has been screaming and howling for the past couple weeks - hurting so much that he considered receiving a cortisone shot similar to the one he had in March when the problem first arose.

As part of a federal project aimed at better treating pain, the University of Maryland, Baltimore will begin revamping the way it teaches future doctors, dentists, nurses and pharmacists. Pain affects approximately 100 million Americans and their treatment and lost productivity are estimated to cost up to $635 billion, according to the National Institutes of Health, which recruited academic centers to help with the problem. A pain consortium of two dozen NIH agencies received 56 proposals and picked 11 universities to be Centers of Excellence in Pain Education.

Graham Motion can't help but hear snippets of news coming from Elmont, N.Y., where I'll Have Another is preparing for a shot at the first Triple Crown in 34 years. "It's great for the sport," the Fair Hill-based trainer said. "But for us, it's tough, too. The length that he won by at Preakness, we lost by that much last year. " Motion can take some solace in knowing the colt that gave him such a gallant run, Animal Kingdom, is finally headed back toward the race track.

No one likes to get stuck with a needle. But it's the only way doctors can get blood to test for diabetes, anemia and numerous other health problems. Scientists at the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing say there is a much less invasive and painless means of detecting illnesses in patients — spit. Like blood, spit contains proteins, hormones, enzymes and DNA that can be used to test for and combat disease. It is easy and inexpensive to collect and analyze, making it ideal for research.

Left fielder Nolan Reimold, who has been out since April 30 with a bulging disk in his neck, met with specialist Dr. Lee Riley again Monday and a second epidural shot has been scheduled for later this week, Reimold said. He had the first one on May 11 and did not experience any significant progress. The shots are often given in three segments and he said he is “leaning toward just getting it and taking my chances” with the second injection. “It didn't work the first time.

An estimated 3.5 million cancer patients around the globe are in severe pain from their disease, but many get no relief. In poor countries the cost is considered too high for drugs like morphine when such opioids are often stolen, abused or not taken according to instruction. But some Johns Hopkins University scientists have been working on a solution for those patients, as well as some in the United States, that uses a flexible button-sized disk implanted under the skin that releases consistent doses of painkiller over a month.

Justin Mabus was one of two Towson freshmen named to the Colonial Athletic Association's All-Rookie team, joining defenseman Jojo Ostrander when the announcement was made May 4. What's remarkable about that accomplishment is that Mabus earned it despite being hobbled by a groin injury. The midfielder said he injured his groin during the week of preparation leading to the season opener at Jacksonville on Feb. 11. Mabus, who has consulted multiple doctors and plans to undergo a magnetic resonance imaging exam this week, said he thought the pain would eventually face, but it did not. “There were times when I'd come in and I needed to sit out a practice,” he said Tuesday morning.

The selection committee's decision to award the No. 1 seed to Loyola Sunday night was the first time the program had earned that seed since 1999. That year, the Greyhounds went 12-0 as the only undefeated team in Division I, but fell to No. 8 seed Syracuse, 17-12, in the quarterfinals. The coach of that squad was Dave Cottle, and the current coach of the Chesapeake Bayhawks of the Major League Lacrosse relived the memory of that loss during a phone interview Tuesday. “I know in '99, we were devastated that we were the only undefeated team in the country and we had to play the winner of Syracuse-Princeton at Princeton,” Cottle said.