Tiger Woods’ Spine Condition – What Caused His Back Pain
Image sourced from Canva
Do you want to know about Tiger Woods spine condition? How were Woods’ spinal conditions affected his career? What spine condition treatments Woods underwent? In today’s article, we will answer these questions and give you more details. Read on!
Tiger Woods Spine Condition and Surgeries
Tiger Woods withdrew from several major tournaments in 2010 due to a tingling sensation on his right side. Doctors suspected that Tiger might have a herniated disc. However, they had not confirmed it. In April 2013, Tiger Woods complained of stiffness in his neck after playing nine holes in a major tournament.
Tiger dropped to the ground due to severe back pain during the thirteenth hole. Woods said that the soft mattress in his hotel room might have caused back pain. Woods withdrew from the Honda Classic tournament due to back pain in March 2014. The pain was evident from Tiger’s movements, stance, posture, and movements.
Tiger’s back pain aggravated when he took a shot at the Honda Classic tournament on the sixth hole. Woods confirmed in April 2014 that he underwent a minimally invasive microdiscectomy procedure to treat the pinched nerve. The surgery caused Woods to withdraw from the Masters’ tournament. However, Wood’s goal was to return to gold in summer 2014.
Two mother later, in August 2014, Woods returned to golf but withdrew soon from the WGC Bridgestone tournament due to lower back pain. Although Woods returned to the PGA Championship, he missed the cut due to the Tiger Woods spine condition.
Tiger Woods Spine Condition caused him to withdraw from the Farmers Insurance Open tournament. In April 2015, Woods felt severe pain in his back, and that’s why he underwent a second microdiscectomy surgery in September 2015 to remove the bone fragment that pinched his nerve. In October 2015, Woods underwent follow-up surgery to relieve discomfort in his back.
Tiger Woods Spinal Fusion Surgery
People who suffer from chronic lower back pain know that performing daily tasks is a real ordeal, which was also the case for Tiger Woods. The champion golfer suffered from spasms, pinched nerve, and sciatic pain for some years. It was difficult for him to stand up and sit down due to Tiger Woods spine condition.
Although Woods underwent several conservative treatments, such as medication, epidural injections, and physical therapy, his condition worsened over time. Tiger Woods could not undergo another back surgery because his disc had severely narrowed. That’s why Dr. Richard Guyer came up with the idea of minimally invasive ALIF fusion surgery.
Dr. Guyer performed the ALIF surgery, one of the best spine condition treatments, to remove the damaged disc between Wood’s L5 and S1. Dr. Guyer placed a bone graft material to ensure the L5 and S1 fuses into a single bone.
Spine Condition Treatments
There are various spine condition treatments. These include medications, physical therapy, and acupuncture, stretching and strengthening exercises, opioids, narcotics, antidepressants, muscle relaxants, epidural steroid injections, and surgery.
Most patients take NSAIDs to treat their acute back pain. NSAIDs, such as naproxen and ibuprofen, are effective OTC medications to reduce inflammation and pain in your back. However, if your pain persists for three months, it is time to consult a qualified neurosurgeon.
Besides, physical therapy and epidural steroid injections can also reduce pain. However, if you want to achieve a better and long-term outcome, it is wise to undergo surgery. Open back and minimally invasive techniques are two broad categories of spinal surgery. Open-back surgery requires the surgeon to make a large incision in the back and cut the muscles to reach the affected area.
On the other hand, a minimally invasive surgery, such as ALIF, requires the neurosurgeon to make a small incision in the front to reach the affected spinal area or damaged disc. Because the incision is made in the abdomen, ALIF surgery does not lead to muscle cutting and damaged soft structures in the lumbar spine.
The spared muscles and nerves in the lumbar spine are very important for people with an active lifestyle. That’s the reason Tiger Woods spine condition required the best spine condition treatments, such as ALIF surgery. Dr. Guyer performed successful surgery, and Woods underwent a rehabilitation process for six months, returning to the 2019 Masters’ tournament.
Contact MINT Today
Lower back pain is a common condition with mild to severe symptoms depending on your condition. If you have severe and chronic pain in the lumbar spine, we recommend you to consult our MINT’s qualified neurosurgeon. Like Tiger Woods spine condition treated with ALIF surgery, our MINT’s surgeon will prescribe you the best spine condition treatments.
