The orthopedic surgeon Dr. Scott Boden has outlined the extent of Tiger Woods’ injuries and what his recovery might look like on CNBC’s “The News with Shepard Smith” after the golfer’s devastating crash on Tuesday morning.
“ We know that because it was an open fracture, which means that the bone has entered the skin, at least temporarily, and it has broken in multiple places, that this was a very energetic fracture, and that makes it a little bit more difficult to cure, ”said the professor of orthopedic surgery at Emory University School of Medicine.
Los Angeles sheriff Alex Villanueva said Woods is lucky to be alive after crashing his SUV on a steep, winding road in Palos Verdes, south of Los Angeles.
Tiger Woods is “awake, responsive and recovering” from a long surgery to repair what one doctor called “significant injuries” to his right leg, according to a pronunciation released through his official Twitter account at 12:30 p.m. ET Wednesday. It marks the 10th operation for the 45-year-old golfer.
Dr. Anish Mahajan, chief medical officer at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, said Woods was suffering from “crushed open fractures” of the upper and lower parts of his right leg. To stabilize Woods’s leg, doctors had to insert a rod, screws, and pins into his foot and ankle.
Boden told host Shepard Smith that the more information that comes out about the golfer’s ankle and foot injuries will reveal a lot about recovery time.
“If those injuries involved the smooth joint surface of the bones where they move in the ankle or in the foot, then that could be a problem with longer term recovery and arthritis and regaining full range of motion,” Boden explained Wednesday. evening interview.
Boden also noted that there is “a potential for infection”, but that we don’t know the size of the skin opening, so “we can’t be sure”. He added that while the recovery will take persistence, “it is never wise to judge Tiger when it comes to a comeback.”