Steve Stricker's MRI results = herniated disk

bhilln said:

If he goes the surgery route, then would guess we won't see him in the Cup. Will see if he will play or go with surgery if he isn't in pain. I guess only he knows how effective he will be with a weak left arm and how that will affect his game.

Click to expand...

dubbledxu said:

If he does suck it up and tries to play, will we have a Cristie Kerr situation where he needs to sit 1+ matches? If so, and with his history of showing emotion, will he cry MORE or LESS than CK did on the range and during that interview?

Click to expand...

mward2002 said:

Ohh man, too soon. Watching her cry like that because she wanted to go but couldn't handle the pain was just cruel to watch. If Stricker has to go under the knife, Keegan's getting his bags packed.

Click to expand...

dubbledxu said:

Too soon? I wasnt mocking her, it was an honest question. He's a known crier after good times, let alone disappointments. I do think he will situp and have surgery to try to be ready for next year and the Ryder Cup.

Click to expand...

mward2002 said:

Per the PGA Tour:

CLEVELAND (AP) -- Tests have confirmed that Steve Stricker has a herniated disk in his neck. The next step for the American golfer is figuring out what to do about it.
Stricker's agent at IMG, Jon Heaton, said Wednesday that an MRI confirmed the neck injury. He says Stricker is not feeling any pain, although he is weak in his left arm.
He says Stricker is consulting specialists and evaluating treatment options.

Anyone had one? How long's recovery if treated? My guess says he doesn't tee it up for the Presidents Cup.

Click to expand...

sangoram said:

As a physician who's recovered from 3 of these (1997 C5-C6 fused, 2002 C4-C5 fused, 2010 C6 laminotomy 2011 C6-C7 Prodisc-C replacement) and an avid golfer, I suppose I can speak to this...

Considering he has weakness in the left arm without pain it is likely a left lateralizing herniation that impinges more on the motor neurons than sensory. Whenever dealing with weakness surgeons are more likely to recommend early surgery but this comes at some risk and downsides... The fusion surgery will limit mobility and there are choices of what to fuse with (autograft from his own hip or cadaveric bone -- former fuses better than the latter but causes hip pain for a while until all is healed) The disc replacement seems like a great option, preserve mobility and no need for an autograft. But it comes at its own cost. No prosthesis works the way the endogenous disc does in terms of all of the motion it is capable of handling. There are some newer generation protheses out there being put in in Korea and Germany that move a little more physiologically. Either way, fusion or disc replacement, the other discs are put at some risk down the line (hence my 4 surgeries in 14 years) Theoretically the prosthesis would confer less stress on adjacent discs.
With the lateralizing symptoms he might be offered a laminotomy (less destabilizing, less invasive) but with weakness this would be a poor choice (and for me personally it seemed like a longer recovery (turned out to be ineffective for me in the end). The recovery from a disc replacement is much more rapid than one realizes...
My personal experience: I was encouraged to engage in normal activity (swing a golf club) as soon as I felt up to it. I had some thoracic symptoms for a week or so and had it not been for these I might have started hitting sooner but within 1 week I was able to start short game work without major trouble. I played full rounds of golf within about 1 month and felt better than before surgery.

I realized from day 1 with the first surgery that something that preserved a bit of function would be better than fusion but this wasn't available in the states at the time. I progressively went longer between subsequent injuries and hope to be done with this last replacement. But the prior fusions set my spine up for repeated injury. I work on swinging within myself and fostering the "effortless power" approach but I do find myself trying to force the club through the ball sometimes with bad effects on the shot and likely my spine. I love the game and for the most part with good rehab and strengthening exercises and practice, I find that my game is actually improving even after the multiple surgeries. I don't think Stricker's career would be compromised by this.

My opinion: I wouldn't mess around with other modalities if there truly is arm weakness. I'd bet he could have the disc replacement surgery this week and be ready for the president's cup without being a detriment to the team in any way (actually he'd probably play better...) But this depends on many factors.
If anyone knows Steve Stricker personally and could pass it along, I'd be happy to share my insight as to the procedures, the effects, and the timetable to recovery for the game (PM me and I'll share my contact info)...
I for one wish him well and think there can be many positives that can come out of what seems like a career threatening and very scary diagnosis for a golfer.

Click to expand...

sangoram said:

As a physician who's recovered from 3 of these (1997 C5-C6 fused, 2002 C4-C5 fused, 2010 C6 laminotomy 2011 C6-C7 Prodisc-C replacement) and an avid golfer, I suppose I can speak to this...

Considering he has weakness in the left arm without pain it is likely a left lateralizing herniation that impinges more on the motor neurons than sensory. Whenever dealing with weakness surgeons are more likely to recommend early surgery but this comes at some risk and downsides... The fusion surgery will limit mobility and there are choices of what to fuse with (autograft from his own hip or cadaveric bone -- former fuses better than the latter but causes hip pain for a while until all is healed) The disc replacement seems like a great option, preserve mobility and no need for an autograft. But it comes at its own cost. No prosthesis works the way the endogenous disc does in terms of all of the motion it is capable of handling. There are some newer generation protheses out there being put in in Korea and Germany that move a little more physiologically. Either way, fusion or disc replacement, the other discs are put at some risk down the line (hence my 4 surgeries in 14 years) Theoretically the prosthesis would confer less stress on adjacent discs.
With the lateralizing symptoms he might be offered a laminotomy (less destabilizing, less invasive) but with weakness this would be a poor choice (and for me personally it seemed like a longer recovery (turned out to be ineffective for me in the end). The recovery from a disc replacement is much more rapid than one realizes...
My personal experience: I was encouraged to engage in normal activity (swing a golf club) as soon as I felt up to it. I had some thoracic symptoms for a week or so and had it not been for these I might have started hitting sooner but within 1 week I was able to start short game work without major trouble. I played full rounds of golf within about 1 month and felt better than before surgery.

I realized from day 1 with the first surgery that something that preserved a bit of function would be better than fusion but this wasn't available in the states at the time. I progressively went longer between subsequent injuries and hope to be done with this last replacement. But the prior fusions set my spine up for repeated injury. I work on swinging within myself and fostering the "effortless power" approach but I do find myself trying to force the club through the ball sometimes with bad effects on the shot and likely my spine. I love the game and for the most part with good rehab and strengthening exercises and practice, I find that my game is actually improving even after the multiple surgeries. I don't think Stricker's career would be compromised by this.

My opinion: I wouldn't mess around with other modalities if there truly is arm weakness. I'd bet he could have the disc replacement surgery this week and be ready for the president's cup without being a detriment to the team in any way (actually he'd probably play better...) But this depends on many factors.
If anyone knows Steve Stricker personally and could pass it along, I'd be happy to share my insight as to the procedures, the effects, and the timetable to recovery for the game (PM me and I'll share my contact info)...
I for one wish him well and think there can be many positives that can come out of what seems like a career threatening and very scary diagnosis for a golfer.

Click to expand...

sangoram said:

As a physician who's recovered from 3 of these (1997 C5-C6 fused, 2002 C4-C5 fused, 2010 C6 laminotomy 2011 C6-C7 Prodisc-C replacement) and an avid golfer, I suppose I can speak to this...

Considering he has weakness in the left arm without pain it is likely a left lateralizing herniation that impinges more on the motor neurons than sensory. Whenever dealing with weakness surgeons are more likely to recommend early surgery but this comes at some risk and downsides... The fusion surgery will limit mobility and there are choices of what to fuse with (autograft from his own hip or cadaveric bone -- former fuses better than the latter but causes hip pain for a while until all is healed) The disc replacement seems like a great option, preserve mobility and no need for an autograft. But it comes at its own cost. No prosthesis works the way the endogenous disc does in terms of all of the motion it is capable of handling. There are some newer generation protheses out there being put in in Korea and Germany that move a little more physiologically. Either way, fusion or disc replacement, the other discs are put at some risk down the line (hence my 4 surgeries in 14 years) Theoretically the prosthesis would confer less stress on adjacent discs.
With the lateralizing symptoms he might be offered a laminotomy (less destabilizing, less invasive) but with weakness this would be a poor choice (and for me personally it seemed like a longer recovery (turned out to be ineffective for me in the end). The recovery from a disc replacement is much more rapid than one realizes...
My personal experience: I was encouraged to engage in normal activity (swing a golf club) as soon as I felt up to it. I had some thoracic symptoms for a week or so and had it not been for these I might have started hitting sooner but within 1 week I was able to start short game work without major trouble. I played full rounds of golf within about 1 month and felt better than before surgery.

I realized from day 1 with the first surgery that something that preserved a bit of function would be better than fusion but this wasn't available in the states at the time. I progressively went longer between subsequent injuries and hope to be done with this last replacement. But the prior fusions set my spine up for repeated injury. I work on swinging within myself and fostering the "effortless power" approach but I do find myself trying to force the club through the ball sometimes with bad effects on the shot and likely my spine. I love the game and for the most part with good rehab and strengthening exercises and practice, I find that my game is actually improving even after the multiple surgeries. I don't think Stricker's career would be compromised by this.

My opinion: I wouldn't mess around with other modalities if there truly is arm weakness. I'd bet he could have the disc replacement surgery this week and be ready for the president's cup without being a detriment to the team in any way (actually he'd probably play better...) But this depends on many factors.
If anyone knows Steve Stricker personally and could pass it along, I'd be happy to share my insight as to the procedures, the effects, and the timetable to recovery for the game (PM me and I'll share my contact info)...
I for one wish him well and think there can be many positives that can come out of what seems like a career threatening and very scary diagnosis for a golfer.

Click to expand...

sangoram said:

As a physician who's recovered from 3 of these (1997 C5-C6 fused, 2002 C4-C5 fused, 2010 C6 laminotomy 2011 C6-C7 Prodisc-C replacement) and an avid golfer, I suppose I can speak to this...

Considering he has weakness in the left arm without pain it is likely a left lateralizing herniation that impinges more on the motor neurons than sensory. Whenever dealing with weakness surgeons are more likely to recommend early surgery but this comes at some risk and downsides... The fusion surgery will limit mobility and there are choices of what to fuse with (autograft from his own hip or cadaveric bone -- former fuses better than the latter but causes hip pain for a while until all is healed) The disc replacement seems like a great option, preserve mobility and no need for an autograft. But it comes at its own cost. No prosthesis works the way the endogenous disc does in terms of all of the motion it is capable of handling. There are some newer generation protheses out there being put in in Korea and Germany that move a little more physiologically. Either way, fusion or disc replacement, the other discs are put at some risk down the line (hence my 4 surgeries in 14 years) Theoretically the prosthesis would confer less stress on adjacent discs.
With the lateralizing symptoms he might be offered a laminotomy (less destabilizing, less invasive) but with weakness this would be a poor choice (and for me personally it seemed like a longer recovery (turned out to be ineffective for me in the end). The recovery from a disc replacement is much more rapid than one realizes...
My personal experience: I was encouraged to engage in normal activity (swing a golf club) as soon as I felt up to it. I had some thoracic symptoms for a week or so and had it not been for these I might have started hitting sooner but within 1 week I was able to start short game work without major trouble. I played full rounds of golf within about 1 month and felt better than before surgery.

I realized from day 1 with the first surgery that something that preserved a bit of function would be better than fusion but this wasn't available in the states at the time. I progressively went longer between subsequent injuries and hope to be done with this last replacement. But the prior fusions set my spine up for repeated injury. I work on swinging within myself and fostering the "effortless power" approach but I do find myself trying to force the club through the ball sometimes with bad effects on the shot and likely my spine. I love the game and for the most part with good rehab and strengthening exercises and practice, I find that my game is actually improving even after the multiple surgeries. I don't think Stricker's career would be compromised by this.

My opinion: I wouldn't mess around with other modalities if there truly is arm weakness. I'd bet he could have the disc replacement surgery this week and be ready for the president's cup without being a detriment to the team in any way (actually he'd probably play better...) But this depends on many factors.
If anyone knows Steve Stricker personally and could pass it along, I'd be happy to share my insight as to the procedures, the effects, and the timetable to recovery for the game (PM me and I'll share my contact info)...
I for one wish him well and think there can be many positives that can come out of what seems like a career threatening and very scary diagnosis for a golfer.

Click to expand...