Why Tiger has had so many surgeries

[playit]

Was reading Tiger's bio on Wikipedia and you talk about impressive. Just reading his career golfing history is amazing. And comeback after comeback after a surgery. My gosh, that guy has been cut on a LOT. Some of his wins seem superhuman. I wonder why he has had so many surgeries? Could we surmise overuse, too much golf? But lots of people have probably done that. Or do you think he is at the top for overuse? Perhaps he is just genetically inclined to have injuries. Do you think injuries are pretty common on tours? What do you think?

[jholz]

A number of folks have suggested that his time training with Navy SEALs didn't help anything.

 

Ultimately, he's used his body hard - for a lot of things. 

[elwhippy]

The classic example of over training. I fear Koepka may go the same way. For someone supposedly super fit he seems to pick up a lot of injuries a la Tiger. 

[MK7Golf21]

It's many factors but he's mostly had knee issues and some of those were just from benign growths back in the 90's so that didn't help from snapping his knee and then the Foley years with his back, right? Hitting as many golf balls as he does at his speed can add up.

[larrybud]

I'm no doctor, but his swing always looked so violent and tight, versus someone like Phil where it's very loose and flowing.

 

Of course, that doesn't explain someone like Couples who I would put in the Phil camp.

[NJBigFish22]

I don’t think the Navy SEALS training helped keep him healthy.  I think Tiger tried to get people to think of golfers as athletes and he over trained.  I think this took away some flexibility leading to many of his issues.

[TiScape]

Because he got injured a lot??? 🤷🏼‍♂️
 

Yeah, I know. Sarrreeee 😆

Edited October 14, 2021 by TiScape

[BrianMcG]

Tiger has said many times when he was younger he really snapped that left leg through impact. Doing that 1000 times a day is going to kill it. 

[DFS PFD]

Yeah most of the guys in the teams are disabled and unable to operate at any capacity for very long. /sarc NSW is not plagued by injuries as that would be a liability to operational readiness, you cannot contribute Tiger's entire string of injuries to that. 

 

Tiger's training with a couple team guys was not his downfall or a major detriment. I'd allude Tiger's biomechanics and aggressiveness coupled with many lifestyle factors are to blame, tough to isolate one thing, or one training style in a small period of time as the ultimate culprit. 

[TiScape]

14 minutes ago, DFS PFD said:

tough to isolate one thing, or one training style in a small period of time as the ultimate culprit. 

So what! Let’s all speculate anyway for ~5-6 pages! 😂

[PowerPlayer]

Running 30 miles /week probably had the most impact on busting his knees. Tiger claims running wrecked his body and I'd think he's consulted highly trained specialists to isolate the root cause so that he can have a plan going forward. 

[MK7Golf21]

11 minutes ago, PowerPlayer said:

Running 30 miles /week probably had the most impact on busting his knees. Tiger claims running wrecked his body and I'd think he's consulted highly trained specialists to isolate the root cause so that he can have a plan going forward. 

 

busting his knees? It's only the lead knee and he claims it was from snapping his lead leg in the golf swing. His injuries are all related to repeated golf swings

[PowerPlayer]

21 minutes ago, Redjeep83 said:

 

busting his knees? It's only the lead knee and he claims it was from snapping his lead leg in the golf swing. His injuries are all related to repeated golf swings

Again, the man said so himself. I'll take him at his word: https://www.golfwrx.com/606786/tiger-woods-running-destroyed-my-body-and-knees-golfwrxers-react/

[tocino]

over training in general can lead to injuries. having a violent swing didn't help either. i don't know enough about his every day training regimen or diet but doing those two things right can help prolong your athletic career... just not indefinitely. It happens to the best of them, eventually your body will tell you its done before your mind ever will

[Pepperturbo]

Being a lifelong jock in multiple activities, I have spent fifty years training.  Long-term failure of body parts is seen more often than imagined, only many people don't associate their gym activities with medical problems, later.  I believe Tiger's work out regime was too fast and too much for his skeleture framework, which protects body parts when heavily strained.  Also, it's the "WILL" over the body that brings someone like Tiger back after physical failure.

 

People discover an interest in working out, so tackle building muscle, fast.  They are unaware of the importance of their skeleture structure, lower core, legs even calves and feet or what should be targeted first before bulking up.  Add in weak genetics and there will be long-term problems for a lot of people. 

I've seen guys that could bench 400lbs but their legs, the knees and lower portions were pins so under heavy strain their lower body can cause upper body parts, namely parts of the back to slowly fail, and result in medical problems.   Kinda like building a multistory house but forgetting about the foundation or building a huge superstructure on a boat frame but not considering the haul's capacity.  If you want your body to stay strong under load, you build it from the ground up, NOT top down.

[ferrispgm]

Several things....1. his old swing as great as it was in a lot of respects....he openly talked about snapping the lead knee at impact to generate more speed....consequently he needed surgery.  2.  Goes along with 1 but he was notorious for going on long runs which is bad on the knees and leads to a lot of wear/tear.  3. His swing with Sean Foley was not good for his body as it caused too much strain on his lower back.  He restricted his hips a ton and at the speed he generated you are destined for issues.  Some players like Day and Koepka can get away with it more but they have been swinging that way from a young age...Tiger didn't restrict things as much as a kid/young adult...Also...Day/Koepka have back issues.

 

Too much gets made about his seal training and workouts imo.  The seal training was for a relatively short time.  The working out sure could cause some muscular injury but Tiger was not a large person even at his peak size. He looked bigger on TV than in person.  If he was 6'1 and 220lbs ok fine you can make the case his frame was too big...but at 180lbs that is not big and is pretty lean. 

[MK7Golf21]

1 hour ago, PowerPlayer said:

Again, the man said so himself. I'll take him at his word: https://www.golfwrx.com/606786/tiger-woods-running-destroyed-my-body-and-knees-golfwrxers-react/

 

You take his word for it eh? Well he has said many things over the years so guess you aren't really taking him at his word. Truth is, if it were only running why would it only be his left knee which happens to be the one that takes the most stress from a golf swing. Running didn't help but the main culprit is going to be repeated golf swings. Tiger's surgeries have been to the left knee, which is the more commonly injured knee for a right-handed golfer.

 

 

Tiger Woods told Golf Digest’s Jaime Diaz in 2005 that he has had a bad left knee since childhood. “It’s because of the stuff I did as a kid,” Woods said. “Wiping out on skateboards, crashing on dirt bikes, jumping off things. I banged it up pretty bad."

 

As ESPN's Bob Harig summarizes neatly: Speaking on Tiger Geno Auriemma's "Holding Court" podcast, the 14-time major champion spoke honestly about why it's not as simple as going back to his 2000 swing:

"I can't. My knee is trashed from all those years of playing that way. I've had four operations on my knee. Forget when my back was bad; pre-surgery and pre-back problems, people were saying the same thing: 'Why don't you go back to 2000?' I can't; my knee's trashed from playing that way, I can't do that anymore. I have to look for a different way."

 

[phizzy30]

The whole Navy Seals training plays into it for sure.  He mentioned how he should have never done that.  He also mentioned running on hard surfaces including the treadmill as being a part of the problem as well.  I never have my clients run on the treadmill.  It's either swimming, biking or elliptical for them.  Tiger also used to swing extremely hard when he was younger.  I believe his ss was thought to be 127 mph when he really went after one.  Let me tell you as someone who used to swing 122 myself and had an extremely positive AoA, it did a number on my back and knees.  I too have had to learn to swing a different way over the years.  Luckily no surgeries yet though.  Fingers crossed. 

Edited October 15, 2021 by phizzy30

[third-times-a-charm]

17 hours ago, DFS PFD said:

Yeah most of the guys in the teams are disabled and unable to operate at any capacity for very long. /sarc NSW is not plagued by injuries as that would be a liability to operational readiness, you cannot contribute Tiger's entire string of injuries to that. 

 

Tiger's training with a couple team guys was not his downfall or a major detriment. I'd allude Tiger's biomechanics and aggressiveness coupled with many lifestyle factors are to blame, tough to isolate one thing, or one training style in a small period of time as the ultimate culprit. 

 

Yes and no. Does a short stint of training do it? No, but months and months and years of training and rucking can do it. Tiger did it for months IIRC - but it wasnt like he was conditioning the whole time. He showed up for a bunch of shoothouse days and etc which didnt have any physical conditioning I'm sure.

 

The average % VA disability for a team guy - or any SF MOS - after they 214 out of the service is pretty high something like 80%+. Your knees and back are shot from it.

[golfandfishing]

16 hours ago, PowerPlayer said:

Again, the man said so himself. I'll take him at his word: https://www.golfwrx.com/606786/tiger-woods-running-destroyed-my-body-and-knees-golfwrxers-react/

Tiger’s “word” is not typically associated with the truth. 

[RCGA]

The answer is obvious to anyone who read the ESPN story in 2016. 

 

It's the SEAL training, coupled with being injury prone. 

 

He's not having 5 back surgeries and 4 knee surgeries because he swings it 125mph. 

[Fairway14]

21 hours ago, playit said:

Was reading Tiger's bio on Wikipedia and you talk about impressive. Just reading his career golfing history is amazing. And comeback after comeback after a surgery. My gosh, that guy has been cut on a LOT. Some of his wins seem superhuman. I wonder why he has had so many surgeries? Could we surmise overuse, too much golf? But lots of people have probably done that. Or do you think he is at the top for overuse? Perhaps he is just genetically inclined to have injuries. Do you think injuries are pretty common on tours? What do you think?

 

Early in his pro career Tiger's routine was to run on concrete 5 or more  miles per day. I think too much running on concrete caused most of the physical injuries.

[bscinstnct]

11 minutes ago, RCGA said:

The answer is obvious to anyone who read the ESPN story in 2016. 

 

It's the SEAL training, coupled with being injury prone. 

 

He's not having 5 back surgeries and 4 knee surgeries because he swings it 125mph. 

 

The swing speed and reckless way he treated his body playing golf were the key contributors to his back problems.

 

He doesn’t end up needing back fusion from just jogging and playing commando. Golf caused that. 

 

The knee injury was originally started when he was young and running and whatever dopey SEAL thing he was doing didn’t help. But the destruction of his meniscus/ACL was absolutely accelerated by the speed/way he swung and that he ignored treating it for so long. 
 

 

“Nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers. Look at me, I’m miserable, that’s why I’m rich."

 

-Ari Gold

Edited October 15, 2021 by bscinstnct

[golfandfishing]

9 minutes ago, bscinstnct said:

 

The swing speed and reckless way he treated his body playing golf were the key contributors to his back problems.

 

He doesn’t end up needing back fusion from just jogging and playing commando. Golf caused that. 

 

The knee injury was originally started when he was young and running and whatever dopey SEAL thing he was doing didn’t help. But the destruction of his meniscus/ACL was absolutely accelerated by the speed/way he swung and that he ignored treating it for so long. 
 

 

“Nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers. Look at me, I’m miserable, that’s why I’m rich."

 

-Ari Gold

Are we saying that golf is more physically demanding than……… Navy SEAL training?  

[RCGA]

4 minutes ago, bscinstnct said:

 

The swing speed and reckless way he treated his body playing golf were the key contributors to his back problems.

 

He doesn’t end up needing back fusion from just jogging and playing commando. Golf caused that. 

 

The knee injury was originally started when he was young and running and whatever dopey SEAL thing he was doing didn’t help. But the destruction of his meniscus/ACL was absolutely accelerated by the speed/way he swung and that he ignored treating it for so long. 

 

After 5 back surgeries on top of everything else, maybe it's not the swing? 

 

Couldn't image swigging your way into a dozen surgeries. At some point, you've got to be at the range, in pain, thinking "wtf am I doing?' 

 

If I blow out my knees running in combat boots....I don't keep running in combat boots. 

[tiderider]

21 hours ago, elwhippy said:

The classic example of over training. I fear Koepka may go the same way. For someone supposedly super fit he seems to pick up a lot of injuries a la Tiger. 

Koepka over training?

 

k .... 

[tiderider]

20 hours ago, NJBigFish22 said:

I don’t think the Navy SEALS training helped keep him healthy.  I think Tiger tried to get people to think of golfers as athletes and he over trained.  I think this took away some flexibility leading to many of his issues.

i've always thought the amount of running he did accelerated his physical demise ... maybe his swing didn't help, but the amount of running he did, combined with the amount of practice he'd put in, did not make his game better (at some point) ... there's diminishing returns to the amount of running he did, imo ... 

[freeze16172002]

22 hours ago, jholz said:

A number of folks have suggested that his time training with Navy SEALs didn't help anything.

 

Ultimately, he's used his body hard - for a lot of things. 

How many times did he train with the Navy Seals? He didnt go through buds, he did some helo jumps, some sniper and shoothouse training. I dont think it had any effect. He did go to the same doc as Arod though

Edited October 15, 2021 by freeze16172002

[phizzy30]

1 hour ago, RCGA said:

The answer is obvious to anyone who read the ESPN story in 2016. 

 

It's the SEAL training, coupled with being injury prone. 

 

He's not having 5 back surgeries and 4 knee surgeries because he swings it 125mph. 

You tell me how your back feels after swinging it 120+ mph for many years.  I will agree with the injury prone part though.  I could get into the whole suspected PED use topic and his body breaking down as a result, but then all the fan boys will come to his defense so I will just leave it at that. 

Edited October 15, 2021 by phizzy30

[milesgiles]

id think he's pretty average for injuries for someone swinging so violently for so long, from a very early age

 

Im also sure he didnt listen to what his body was telling him and let minor tweaks become major injuries