Tiger Woods was leading the final day of the British Open with 9 holes to play. He then shot a double bogey. He is contending in major championships.
Tiger Woods was also in contention at the 2018 Masters.
Tiger has had an amazing recovery from back and other injuries. The most recent is a recovery from spinal fusion surgery. Tiger had two discectomies and a third operation to remedy his sciatica, which messed up his nerves on a daily basis leaving him slumped on his sofa for days at a time.
Throughout his golf career, Tiger has had a swing which put a lot of pressure on his back.
However, it is not just Tiger Woods who is coming back from injuries that would have ended past sports careers.
Peyton Manning
Peyton Manning football career lasted years after major neck surgeries. Peyton underwent is called a posterior cervical foraminotomy. This surgery is done through the back of the neck and can relieve the pressure of a compressed nerve. It can in many cases completely relieve the pain and weakness caused from a pinched nerve. Peyton underwent two more decompression surgeries to try to better relieve pressure from the recurrent disc herniations. Following the surgeries the pain improved dramatically but he continued to have significant weakness in his triceps. Peyton flew to Europe four times, trying various alternative therapies including the use of stem cells. There continued to be no improvement. Manning underwent a fourth surgery, which was a single-level anterior fusion. The operation was on September 9th, 2011. In this procedure, the surgeon removes the herniated disc and replaces it with bone (a bone graft) and places a metal plate, which is screwed in above and below the removed disc. This takes the pressure off the affected nerve, stabilizes the spinal column.
Manning played three more seasons and went to two more Superbowls. Manning won a final Superbowl and retired.
Tennis having dominant players staying at the top longer
Tennis has had the top three men players remain at the top for far longer than past dominant players. They have each needed surgery to stay in the game and at the top.
Djokovic had elbow surgery and has come back to win Wimbledon.
Rafael Nadal has a birth defect in his foot which has required constant medical intervention.
Nadal has had knee surgeries but come back to win French opens.
Federer has come back knee surgeries to continue winning.
Improving Sports Medicine and training techniques will keep the best at the top longer
Improved sports medicine and training techniques are keeping the best in sport at the top longer. Further improvements will likely continue to lengthen the careers of dominant people in sports and enable them to come back from previously career ending injuries.
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
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Rafael Nadal has a birth defect in his foot which has required constant medical intervention.” Good thing his pregnant mother didn’t know, or she might have been pressured to have an abortion. Why bring a defective child into the world? /sarc
Rafael Nadal has a birth defect in his foot which has required constant medical intervention.””Good thing his pregnant mother didn’t know”””” or she might have been pressured to have an abortion. Why bring a defective child into the world? /sarc”””
Moot point I never heard many people asking mothers to have an abortion because of a defective foot
Tiger lost and Francesco won! Go Italy!
Tiger Woods was leading the final day of the British Open with 9 holes to play. He then shot a double bogey. He is contending in major championships. Tiger Woods was also in contention at the 2018 Masters. ITALIAN POWER!! Go Francesco!!!!!! Luca Mazza
Moot point I never heard many people asking mothers to have an abortion because of a defective foot
Tiger lost and Francesco won! Go Italy!
Tiger Woods was leading the final day of the British Open with 9 holes to play. He then shot a double bogey. He is contending in major championships.Tiger Woods was also in contention at the 2018 Masters.ITALIAN POWER!! Go Francesco!!!!!! Luca Mazza
yes, especially since in Nadal’s case it was not necessarily a congenital defect. He has Kohler’s, a problem with his navicular. He played a lot of sports early as a kid which could have led to this problem. Besides, you can’t tell when born or earlier that someone has Kohler’s.
Great play by Molinari! But it’s more than medicine at work here. It’s also technique. Modern golf swing puts enormous stress on the back/spine, which, imho, is unnecessary. The greats of yesteryear, Nicklaus/Palmer/Hogan/Player/Watson lift their left heal slightly as they rotate and make a big hip turn. This is a more natural rotation and significantly reduces rotational forces (though you need expert timing to control the ball). Player was one of the few who preferred the “fixed foot” but then switched later on and is still going strong. Bubba Watson is one of the very few on the Tour who plays the old way and still can hit 300+ yards (obviously for him he lifts his right foot). Tiger was a great player, but has had to pay for a swing that suits a 20-year old playing for a short period of time. Federer’s injury is interesting – a simple rotational injury that can happen to anyone (myself included). I think Manning wouldn’t have needed help from modern sports medicine is he hadn’t used a helmet. Football is a head concussion injury masquerading as a sport. Fun to watch but feel sorry for the players.
yes especially since in Nadal’s case it was not necessarily a congenital defect. He has Kohler’s a problem with his navicular. He played a lot of sports early as a kid which could have led to this problem. Besides you can’t tell when born or earlier that someone has Kohler’s.
Great play by Molinari!But it’s more than medicine at work here. It’s also technique.Modern golf swing puts enormous stress on the back/spine which imho is unnecessary. The greats of yesteryear Nicklaus/Palmer/Hogan/Player/Watson lift their left heal slightly as they rotate and make a big hip turn. This is a more natural rotation and significantly reduces rotational forces (though you need expert timing to control the ball). Player was one of the few who preferred the fixed foot”” but then switched later on and is still going strong. Bubba Watson is one of the very few on the Tour who plays the old way and still can hit 300+ yards (obviously for him he lifts his right foot). Tiger was a great player”””” but has had to pay for a swing that suits a 20-year old playing for a short period of time.Federer’s injury is interesting – a simple rotational injury that can happen to anyone (myself included). I think Manning wouldn’t have needed help from modern sports medicine is he hadn’t used a helmet. Football is a head concussion injury masquerading as a sport. Fun to watch but feel sorry for the players.”””
yes, especially since in Nadal’s case it was not necessarily a congenital defect. He has Kohler’s, a problem with his navicular. He played a lot of sports early as a kid which could have led to this problem. Besides, you can’t tell when born or earlier that someone has Kohler’s.
Great play by Molinari!
But it’s more than medicine at work here. It’s also technique.
Modern golf swing puts enormous stress on the back/spine, which, imho, is unnecessary. The greats of yesteryear, Nicklaus/Palmer/Hogan/Player/Watson lift their left heal slightly as they rotate and make a big hip turn. This is a more natural rotation and significantly reduces rotational forces (though you need expert timing to control the ball). Player was one of the few who preferred the “fixed foot” but then switched later on and is still going strong. Bubba Watson is one of the very few on the Tour who plays the old way and still can hit 300+ yards (obviously for him he lifts his right foot). Tiger was a great player, but has had to pay for a swing that suits a 20-year old playing for a short period of time.
Federer’s injury is interesting – a simple rotational injury that can happen to anyone (myself included).
I think Manning wouldn’t have needed help from modern sports medicine is he hadn’t used a helmet. Football is a head concussion injury masquerading as a sport. Fun to watch but feel sorry for the players.
Moot point
I never heard many people asking mothers to have an abortion because of a defective foot
Tiger lost and Francesco won!
Go Italy!
Tiger Woods was leading the final day of the British Open with 9 holes to play. He then shot a double bogey. He is contending in major championships.
Tiger Woods was also in contention at the 2018 Masters.
ITALIAN POWER!!
Go Francesco!!!!!!
Luca Mazza
“Rafael Nadal has a birth defect in his foot which has required constant medical intervention.”
Good thing his pregnant mother didn’t know, or she might have been pressured to have an abortion. Why bring a defective child into the world? /sarc