Man, I really love watching Tadahito Iguchi play baseball. He's an import from Japan, and his baseball career hasn't been awesome. Still, I love watching him play for a couple of reasons:

1) He still has a youngster's love and enthusiasm for the game.

2) The photos of him playing capture this spirit and never disappoint.

It was a bummer to see that Tadahito Iguchi was put on the disabled list for a separated shoulder this week. For an infielder, well, any baseball player, a separated shoulder affects all parts of your game. Your shoulder acts as a lever joint helping you throw, hit and even run in baseball. When you suffer a separated shoulder it's very painful. 

During a shoulder separation your clavicle doesn't like to play with your shoulder blade, so it resists forming a joint. This most often happens when sudden trauma or excessive force is used with the hand pushed forward. In the case of Iguchi, he was moving to a ground ball and relied on his arm too much.

The funny thing, well for people suffering from shoulder separations it isn't funny, is that the shoulder can't magically heal. Unlike other problems with the body where time, medicine or tricks of the trade will make it better, shoulder separation is a "nature takes its course" problem.

This means it's going to take about 2 months to completely heal from a shoulder separation. Yep, 2 months. Remember, this is for your normal separations. If you've really messed up your shoulder and torn major ligaments you might need surgery. In case of surgery you can expect to double your recovery time. 4 months.

There are a number of things you can do to help the healing process along:

• Sling: Sling's are important as they take the pressure and focus off your shoulder and distribute it. This allows your body more time to heal.
• Physical therapy: Don't roll your eyes. Physical therapists will have specialized exercises that help stress your shoulder to encourage healing.
• Fire and ice: Before using your shoulder heat it up. This loosens the joint. Afterwards, ice it down. This minimizes the swelling.

Assuming Iguchi's separation is normal, we'd expect to see him back about the first week of August.