Tiger Woods looks forward to a comeback following a lumbar fusion surgery last month in Texas.
“It is hard to express how much better I feel. It was instant nerve relief. I haven’t felt this good in years.” Woods writes on TigerWoods.com. “I want to say unequivocally, I want to play golf again,”
The rest of the 2017 PGA Tour may be a loss at this point. It will take another 3 months before Woods can twist his back again.
There is no hurry, though, as Woods concentrates on “short-term goals” and following his doctors’ orders. At the moment he said his focus is on walking, physical therapy exercises and spending time with his children.
Surgery wasn’t easy an easy decision for woods. He deliberated for a while before going through with the Fusion. Prior to his surgery last month, he’d already had three back surgeries. After several nonsurgical remedies failed to relieve Woods’s pain, he couldn’t take it anymore and decided to go through with the Fusion.
Woods also mentioned a few other golfers who experienced nerve pain and went through with a similar surgery.
“You mention the word ‘fusion,’ and it’s scary. Other guys who have had fusions or disc replacements like Davis Love III, Retief Goosen, Lee Trevino, Lanny Wadkins and Dudley Hart … they have all come back and played. But more than anything, it made their lives better. That’s the most important thing … that I can have a life again with my kids.”
Woods even consulted with Love before making his decision.
“He’s asked about the fusion surgery for years, and I told him to talk to Peyton Maning,” Love told Golf Channel. “He’s the one who convinced me. If Peyton could do it and come back and get hit, Tiger and I aren’t going to get hit, to watch him play I knew I had to do it.
“I texted him and asked if the pain went away, and he said it immediately went away,” Love added. “I woke up [after the surgery] and literally had tears in my eyes it felt so much better. He told me it was automatic relief.”
The outcomes shared by Woods and Love after their surgeries are similar to the ones we hear from our patients every day. We applaud Woods’ for sharing his experience with nerve pain and surgery and look forward to watch him on the links real soon. We hope their testimonials will serve to encourage long-time sufferers of back pain to explore surgical options when all nonsurgical methods have failed.
