Midway through September, Tiger Woods announced he had successfully undergone the sixth back surgery of his career and that he was looking forward to resuming “normal life activities, including golf.”
The 15-time Major winner had received “microdecompression surgery of the lumbar spine for nerve impingement in the lower back.” In layman’s terms, he had seen a tiny bit of tissue attached to his spine shaved off after it was pressing on a nerve.
Previously, the 48-year-old had seen a part of one of the discs in his spine marginally shaved as a result of a sciatic-like issue which, again, was causing pain via a trapped nerve. As in Woods’ case, plenty of people who undergo surgery to deal with a slipped disc may also return for treatment on a separate issue further down the line after their spine becomes marginally less robust.
A statement released on Woods’ social media channels back in September informed fans that Dr Sheeraz Qureshi of Hospital For Special Surgery in West Palm Beach” performed the latest surgery and had deemed it to be successful.”
It finished with a paragraph which read: “The surgery went smoothly, and I’m hopeful this will help alleviate the back spasms and pain I was experiencing throughout most of the 2024 season. I look forward to tackling this rehab and preparing myself to get back to normal life activities, including golf.”
While people were glad to hear Woods was planning on returning to action, there was no information provided on when that might be. His next scheduled appearance could be at either the Hero World Challenge or the PNC Championship – both of which are in December.
Attempting to find out more, Golf Monthly spoke to Mr Mo Akmal – the leading consultant spinal specialist and surgeon at the London Spine Unit. Mr Akmal has over 25 years experience in the field and deals with decompression surgery, discectomy procedures, and lumbar fusions on a regular basis – all of which feature on Woods’ medical history.
He explained that decompression surgery involves a small operation to shave off a tiny bit of tissue which is pressing on the nerve. Mr Akmal also pointed out that the degeneration which leads to surgery like Woods had normally occurs as a result of simple wear and tear, especially for athletes like golfers.
Going on to break down…
..
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Golf Monthly…