Dr. Andrew Hecht: “Why Tiger Woods Could Miss All Four Majors in 2014”
On Tuesday, Tiger Woods' announcement that he had undergone successful back surgery and would miss the Masters for the first time as a pro led to two main questions: What is a microdiscectomy and how long will Woods be out of action? "A microdiscectomy is a treatment for someone with a disc herniation," said Andrew Hecht, MD, Assistant Professor of Orthopaedics and Neurosurgery, and Co-Chair of Spine Surgery at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. "If you think of a disc like a jelly donut, the outer cover tears and the jelly comes out. That jelly starts to irritate a nerve." Dr. Hecht said there is a gradual phase of rehabilitation followed by a more intense phase and finally the return of an athlete to activities for his/her specific sport. Learn more