The 34-year-old left-hander was very noticeably struggling with his mobility last summer.
Just the act of bending down to pick up the ball looked, well, quite laboured.
It is a sensitive topic for him. But he wanted to be honest with the public and better explain his absence.
"I’m not going to go into too much detail," Rutherford said.
"But I’ll just tell you I’ve got bad hips and we decided to go through a bit of a management plan.
"I suggested being unavailable for the first four games, get a good lead in and hopefully, all going well, play the rest of the summer."
When pressed for more detail, Rutherford decline to elaborate.
He did reveal he had a cortisone injection last week to provide some relief.
He plans to "crack into some cricket" at club level first and then play some cricket for the Otago A team.
He should be "good to go" for the start of Otago’s Ford Trophy campaign on November 25.
"It is the first time ... in maybe 13 years I have not played the first game of the summer, so it is very different," he said when asked what it was like to watch from afar.
"Obviously we’ve got a very young team and seeing them, I guess, struggle in the first game was a bit hard to watch, and not being there and not being able to help them."
Otago was demolished by an innings and 32 runs in its opening game of the season against Northern Districts in Hamilton.
It was a bleak beginning to the campaign.
"It is very hard from my armchair to make a comment on that and I won’t."
Otago has resisted making any changes for its match against Canterbury beginning in Christchurch today. They have stuck with the top order which capitulated in the second innings.
They could really use a player of Rutherford’s vast experience.
He has scored 5207 runs in 79 first-class games for the province, including 12 hundreds. Only three players have scored more runs for Otago, so his absence is a big setback for the Volts.
His nous and knowledge of the game is a huge loss as well.
Canterbury suffered a 129-run loss to Wellington first up but have boosted their squad with the inclusion of Kyle Jamieson and Henry Nicholls.
Former Otago players Michael Rae and Michael Rippon have also been named in the 12 and will get their first opportunity against their old side.
Plunket Shield
Christchurch, 10.30am
Otago: Luke Georgeson, Jacob Cumming, Dale Phillips, Dean Foxcroft (c), Thorn Parkes, Jamal Todd, Max Chu , Ben Lockrose, Jacob Duffy, Matt Bacon, Jarrod McKay, Jake Gibson.
Canterbury: Zak Foulkes, Dylan Hunter, Henry Nicholls, Cole McConchie, Leo Carter, Mitch Hay, Michael Rippon, Kyle Jamieson,
Michael Rae, Fraser Sheat, Angus McKenzie, Matt Boyle.