Sports Injury

Peyton Manning: Cervical Fusion and Return to Play

After a hard hit in the middle of a game, it can be a long nerve-wracking moment when a player doesn’t immediately rise to their feet. In football, specifically, there is always a fear of a spine or neck injury after a bad tackle. Neck problems are quite common in football, whether a “stinger” or something more serious. But when the injury is severe and surgery becomes a necessary option, there is life after surgery – even in professional sports. In mid-2013, a study was published of seven professional football players and eight professional wrestlers who underwent anterior cervical discectomy and fusion. All fifteen were cleared to play following the surgery. Thirteen returned to their respective sports in 2-12 months, and eight are still participating in the most recent season. An earlier study from 2010 also showed that professional football players with cervical disk herniations who were treated surgically had higher return-to-play rates and longer careers than those who were treated non-surgically. Nearly 3 out of 4 NFL players treated surgically returned to play in an average of 29.3 games over a 2.8-year period. Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning completed a record-breaking 34 passes in Sunday’s big game, although it did

February 7, 2014

Cheerleading Injuries

Can you guess what sport causes the most injuries in young women? The answer may surprise you: it’s cheerleading, specifically the competitive side of the sport — which has accounted for more than 70 percent of catastrophic injuries in women’s college sports over the past 20 years. According to the Orthopedics Institute at Children’s Hospital Colorado, the most common cheerleading injuries in young women are: Strains and sprains of the neck, lower back, knee, and wrist Back injuries, including pain and stress fractures to the vertebra Concussions and other head injuries Cheerleading, though considered a competitive sport by colleges and schools all over the country, is not recognized by the NCAA and does not have enforced safety regulations. Several groups have emerged over the years to regulate the sport and provide guidance to cheerleaders, coaches, parents, and schools, including the American Association of Cheerleading Coaches and Administrators and the National Council for Spirit Safety and Education. Interestingly, cheerleading injuries tend to be even more severe than other sports injuries. It’s important to take safety precautions, starting by training with a certified coach: Enforce supervision at all times during stunt routines Perform resistance exercises to gain strength in the lower back, stomach

October 1, 2013

Tiger Woods’ Back Pain

Tiger Woods was in his final round at The Barclays, undoubtedly within distance of the lead, when he dropped in pain to the green. The moment of gripping pain followed his second shot on the par-5 13th, and onlookers wondered if he would even be able to finish the back nine. The pro-golfer gingerly finished The Barclays, resulting in a tie for second place. Whether Tiger could have forced a play-off without his lowerback pain (LBP) is a question unknown, but he will not risk further injury by playing a previously scheduled philanthropic golf event before the second round of the FedEx Cup playoff tournament. What caught my attention is that Woods deemed traveling and sleeping in soft hotel beds as the culprit of his back spasms, versus playing the sport for years professionally. It is true that you may be able to prevent back pain by investing in a medium-firm mattress, as illustrated by a Spanish study in The Lancet. However, one of the most common golf injuries is low back pain, typically due to muscle strains and sprains, or disk related injury. This is because the rotational twisting force during the golf swing can put excess strain on

September 3, 2013

Rob Gronkowski for Lower Back Disc Injury

Recently, it was confirmed that New England Patriot tight end Rob Gronkowski will undergo surgery this June to repair a lower back disc injury, which has been troubling him since November of last year. Unfortunately, this is not the first or the last time we will see this type of headline in the news, as the rate of sports-related injuries continues to rise. Gronkowski is no stranger to surgery. In 2009, the two-time Pro Bowler missed his entire junior season at the University of Arizona, due to a similar, though unrelated, disc injury. Following the 2011-12 season, Gronkowski had surgery for strained ligaments in his ankle. Most recently, he underwent four surgeries in the past seven months on his left arm, which he broke last November and reinjured in December. His latest injury highlights the significant injury rate sustained by professional football players. Head trauma and spinal conditions are becoming increasingly more common, and only now are we beginning to understand the long term effects of injuries suffered more than 20 or even 30 years ago. According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, more than 920,000 people 18 and under were treated for football-related injuries in hospital emergency rooms, doctors’ offices

June 4, 2013

Jarvis Jones – Spinal Stenosis

I see patients in my practice with conditions ranging from neck and lower back pain to spinal fractures. From one patient to the next, the injury is never the same. This is most certainly the case with spinal stenosis, a condition that I often see and treat. Let’s start with what spinal stenosis is. It is a narrowing of the spinal canal that can occur anywhere along the length of the spine. The symptoms depend on what part of the spinal cord or nerve roots that are affected. Although spinal stenosis is more common in older patients due to the natural aging process, some people are born with a narrow spinal canal that lead to symptoms at a younger age. There are also patients who suffer from spinal stenosis because of other factors, such as trauma, which is common in athletes after sports-related injuries. With the NFL Draft quickly approaching, there’s a lot of conversation surrounding individual players. Conversations run the gamut of athletic strengths and weaknesses to individual character and football IQ. Injuries are a hot topic, as the media always wants to find a player’s weakness. Spinal injuries are always highlighted, as they are categorized as huge disadvantages.

April 16, 2013

All-Terrain Vehicle-Related Spinal Injuries on the Rise in Children and Adolescents

Emergency room visits, specifically spinal cord injuries, are becoming increasingly prevalent amongst children and adolescents. Unfortunately, this increase is occurring from those who use all-terrain vehicles, otherwise known as ATVs. For those of you who are unfamiliar, ATVs are 3 or 4-wheeled motorized vehicles that weigh up to 800 pounds and are popularly used for recreation. Although ATVs are not common on the streets of Manhattan, I am very familiar with the damage they create. There are thousands of ATV-related injuries amongst children and adolescents each year and reports of children as young as eight being treated for an ATV-related injury in an emergency room. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission estimates that there are approximately 2.2 million ATV riders under the age of 16. Countless medical organizations and physicians including myself have recommended that ATVs not be operated by anyone under the age of 16, but legally there is no way to prohibit usage. ATVs have a tendency to flip, making it especially easy for children to sustain spinal fractures from the impact. A study published in the Journal of Pediatric Orthopedics reinforces their danger, “The injury rate for children from ATV accidents has increased 240% since 1997” and

April 9, 2013

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