Dr. Ari Seidenstein, a hip and knee specialist from Rothman Orthopaedics, joined Moose & Maggie on WFAN Wednesday to discuss the injuries Tiger Woods suffered in a car accident on Tuesday – and while Dr. Seidenstein doesn't know the exact specifics of the situation, he was able to speculate that Tiger is in for a lengthy recovery, and there is – and should be – no timetable on a possible return to golf.
"I won't rule out a return to golf, but this will involve a long rehab process – at the least, 9-12 months before you'll even begin to know the answers to those questions," Dr. Seidenstein told Moose & Maggie. "Obviously, we're all happy to hear Tiger's life was never in any danger, but these are very concerning and serious injuries. He will most likely be in the hospital, my guess is several days to a week, at least until the swelling goes down enough that they can close the fasciotomies they did."
A fasciotomy is a release of tissue – basically, cutting it open – done to relieve pressure from swelling, and the doctor explained exactly what the medical terminology of Tiger's injuries entail.
"Going by the reports we've heard, open comminuted fractures – comminuted means it wasn't a clean break, it was in several pieces, and open means the bones punctured the skin. He was treated emergently so he didn't get any kind of infection from debris at the crash scene," Dr. Seidenstein explained. "The fractures themselves caused swelling in the tissues, and these injuries coming from such a high energy mechanism, they had to do fasciotomy because the amount of swelling could cause constriction of vessels, and eventually permanent damage to the leg."
What it means for Tiger is that the surgeries he endured Tuesday likely aren't the only ones, and it will be months before he's out of the surgical woods.
"This means those will probably not be the only operations he will have, as they have to close the releases they did to soft tissues," Dr. Seidenstein explained. "From a surgical standpoint, he may not be out of the woods. The fractures could take up to two or three months to fully heal, and then it's a lengthy rehab and physical therapy process."
And, it could take quite a team of doctors to get there.
"With the bones themselves, the most emergent thing we're trying to solve is preventing infection, so it's washing out wounds and antibiotics. If it's not too contaminated, which is my guess in this case, you can definitively treat the fractures themselves," Dr. Seidenstein said. "But if soft tissues are affected, there could be a need for vascular and plastic surgeons."
Some of those surgeries could be outpatient – Dr. Seidenstein pointed to the removal of pins from an ankle, for instance, as an in-office procedure – but it's still a long process, and could have severe long-term effects.
"The tibia fracture is more concerning, because that bone doesn't have a lot of soft tissue around it, so it can take a long time to heal," he said. "With the ankle, whenever a fracture involves a joint, there is concern over post-traumatic arthritis. The rod in his leg can be removed, but usually, these modes of fixation are left permanently unless they irritate soft tissues later on. The only part of the fixation that will probably be removed are the pins in the ankle fracture. Pins usually aren't permanent."
Tiger did also have a back surgery within the last 90 days, but Dr. Seidenstein didn't believe the rehab from the accident injuries would affect his back rehab, or vice versa.
For more, you can listen to Dr. Seidenstein's entire chat with Moose and Maggie below.
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