at the present time the alternative is
not between change or no change but
between change for the better change for
the worse
CH Douglas
mm 18 marks the return of Tiger Woods
after spinal fusion surgery an injury
that kept him nearly 2 years in his bed
now he's back
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Tiger has not won in five years so far
in 2018 he's played 11 events in those
he's made 8 cuts and was inside the top
12 four times he now sits 61st in the
FedEx Cup stats show that Tiger is
fourth on tour strikes gained school
average of 70 and his 20th nights work
the averages 304 yards off the tee has
ranked 26th in driving distance
impressive but is this a new beginning
or the end of Tiger Woods this is not
the first time Tiger has returned from
injury in April 2008 Tiger underwent
knee surgery a few months later he went
back for additional knee surgery in 2009
he had no wins and he had a
well-publicized divorce I have barely
disappointed all of you between 2010 and
2012 poor performances and repetitive
injuries dog tiger however in 2013
marked the return of Tiger Woods with
four new wins under his belt but in 2014
he injured his lower back and
subsequently underwent back surgery
again in 2015 Tiger re-injured his low
back ah it's strange though isn't it for
someone so young to have a back problem
his back problems continued into 2017
and Woods had a fourth spinal surgery
this time for a spinal fusion of the
lower lumbar spine so what does all this
mean for Tiger put another injury be his
last but maybe
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when we look at the human spine we have
to Williams in which the legs articulate
in between the two liam's is a
triangular bone called the sacrum
stacked on top of this sacrum are 24
moveable bones separated by a rubbery
pad that we call discs the spine has
four curves and it acts like a coil or
spring the joints of the spine are
called facets the lumbar facets by
design had very little moving typically
less than 1 degrees the thoracic facets
are designed diametrically different
than the lumbars given a much greater
degree almost 3 degrees for a total of
30 to 35 degrees for the entire thoracic
spine first of all I am NOT diagnosing
Tiger Woods nor do I know anything about
golf
I am simply looking at his biomechanics
period number one a trade off for Tigers
wide foot stance crates way too much
head movement number two in light of his
recent fusion of l5 it decreased greatly
the range of motion in the lumbar spine
and number three he has a severe lack of
the lumbar curve when he swings coupled
with a right lateral flexion
let's connect all three of these dots
and see which way the force flows the
vulnerability for Tiger Woods is that a
spinal bone called t12
now t12 is unlike any other bone in the
body it has two entirely diametrically
different types of joints now remember
the upper back this the thoracic spine
has joints that have plenty of movement
the low back the lumbar spine have very
little movement Tiger has a fusion down
here so his movement down here is
greatly reduced and so when we look at
t12 and we look at Tigers stance he has
and remember in the y-axis he has a loss
of the lumbar curve in his swing okay so
his spine is the the axial compression
has come straight down in the y axis
coupled with the fact that he's
laterally rotated to the right and he's
twerking with his hips he has more
torque than any other golfer in history
and it's all hidden at this one fulcrum
point called t12 so in other words if we
look at t12 the top two such joints the
joints are like this the bottom joints
are diametrically different they're kind
of more rounded and so what Tigers doing
when he when he laterally flexes and
extends his low back the joints were
like this the bottom joints cool like
this he's put in rotation a lot of
physical wear and tear on that area
there and it's something's gotta give no
athlete is immune from the ravages of
time and mechanically speaking I feel
that Tiger was could potentially create
a whole new set of problems in his new
swing and the challenges for Tiger is
not to develop a whole new set of
complacent patterns leading to break
down in the body and so he's got a he's
got a slippery slope ahead of him sort
of a tie problem and he's you know with
that with the back injuries of for back
surgeries to knee surgeries and so he
the the key here for Tiger is he's got
it somehow maintain that torque and
rotation without stress in the lumbar
spine and keeping the paraspinal muscles
the back muscles loose and relaxed it's
it's a challenge and I don't know if to
be honest and we we all love Tiger being
back in the game and it's great for the
game and and someone for myself and
knows nothing about golf I can actually
watch it when Tigers on and so we you
know but we wanted him to be healthy as
well and anyway if there's any one
effort challenged it's it's got to be
Tiger Woods and so if there's anyone
that could do this it is Tiger Woods and
so we hope him the best
who say this with caution thank you for
watching talk to small
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