Can Golf Cause Back Pain?
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Can golf cause back pain? Although golf is not a high-impact sport, it can cause several injuries due to overuse or poor mechanics. The most common injuries associated with golf are upper back pain and lower back pain.
However, golf can also cause hand, wrist, elbow, and shoulder-related injuries. So, the answer to the question “can golf cause back pain” is “yes,” because it can cause severe back pain. Golf has affected many professional athletes, including Tiger Woods.
Back pain golf results from repetitive motions, leading to strains, inflammation, and other injuries to the spine, including muscle damage, herniated disc, and lower back pain with sciatica. In today’s article, we will discuss Tiger’s Woods back pain golf. Read on!
Can Golf Cause Back Pain – The Story of Tiger Woods
Tiger Woods is a professional golfer who has won many tournaments. Woods has millions of fans worldwide, and his reputation as a professional golfer is well-known. However, golf has caused numerous injuries to Woods’ body, affecting his health and career.
Tiger Woods withdrew from a major tournament in 2010. Woods did not participate in the tournament’s final round due to a severe tingling sensation in his right side. Doctors suspected that the repetitive movements might have caused a herniated disc.
In 2013, Tiger Woods experienced a stiff neck after playing nine holes out of eighteen in a major golf tournament. Tiger dropped to the ground due to severe pain during the thirteenth hole. According to Woods, the pain might have been caused by a soft mattress in his hotel room or repetitive movements while playing golf.
Moreover, Woods withdrew from the Honda Classic Tournament due to severe back pain in 2014. Tiger could not stretch and move comfortably due to his back pain during the final round. In April 2014, Tiger announced that he underwent a spinal surgery known as a microdiscectomy to relieve a pinched nerve in his spine.
A year later, Tiger Woods underwent second microdiscectomy surgery to treat back pain golf. Woods underwent follow-up surgery to stabilize his spine. Although Woods had temporary relief, the pain returned a few months later.
Tiger Woods took medications and performed physical therapy exercises to relieve his back pain. However, these treatments failed to alleviate pain in his lumbar spine. Let us now discuss Tiger’s Woods ALIF surgery. Continue reading!
Tiger Woods ALIF Surgery for Back Pain Golf
The damaged intervertebral discs caused chronic pain in his lower back. Tiger also experienced severe pain in his legs, known as sciatic pain. The pain would radiate from this lumbar spine through the buttocks into his leg. Bear in mind that a disc is a gel-like material between the vertebrae that act as a shock absorber.
Can golf cause back pain? There are numerous causes of intervertebral disc damage, but doctors agree that Tiger’s lumbar spine pain resulted from the repetitive biomechanical load through playing golf. Tiger Woods continued to take medications and participated in physical therapy sessions to relieve his back pain. However, the situation was getting intense.
Tiger’s back surgeon advised him to undergo ALIF surgery. It is a spinal procedure that requires the surgeon to approach the damaged intervertebral disc in the lumbar spine by making a small incision in the front.
Because Tiger had undergone three spinal surgeries previously, it was impossible to perform another operation from a posterior approach. That’s why Woods’ surgeon recommended him to undergo ALIF surgery.
ALIF surgery was a miracle for Tiger Woods because it successfully relieved his lumbar spine and sciatic pain, allowing him to return to the 2019’s Masters Tournament. Tiger won the Masters tournament thanks to the ALIF surgery performed.
What is ALIF Surgery?
ALIF stands for anterior lumbar interbody fusion. It is a spinal procedure that requires MINT’s neurosurgeon, Dr. Scott Kutz, to approach the spine from the front. Dr. Kutz makes a small incision in the belly to reach the spine and removes the damaged disc.
Dr. Kutz then inserts the bone graft material and secures it with rods and screws. ALIF surgery offers a wide range of benefits for back pain golf and other spinal conditions, such as degenerative disc disease, herniated disc, spinal stenosis, etc., of the lumbar spine.
ALIF surgery also allows for placing a much larger cage between the vertebrae, leading to effective and quicker fusion of the two bones into a single, solid structure. If you want to know more details on “can golf cause back pain,” or if you are looking for an advanced treatment option for back pain golf, contact MINT Plano, TX today!
