Tennis-Related Surgeries

[seano10s]

Just curious about tennis related surgeries that other Tennisplayer.net members may have had. I'm currently recuperating from my 2nd neck surgery in 7 months (Jan. - cervical laminoplasty; June - cervical disk fusion & disk replacement). I've been teaching tennis for 30+ years. My symptoms started 2+ years ago w/ numbness and tingling in both arms/hands. Later the numbness/tingling went to my legs/feet. MRI revealed my spinal column had less than half the space it's supposed to have. As a result, my spinal cord was being crushed. I'm very lucky that I'm able to walk. I hopefully should be back teaching in September. I know fellow teaching pro's that have had knee replacements, hip replacements and rotor cuff surgery etc.
Share your surgeries.

[don_budge]

Rehabilitation?

Just curious about tennis related surgeries that other Tennisplayer.net members may have had. I'm currently recuperating from my 2nd neck surgery in 7 months (Jan. - cervical laminoplasty; June - cervical disk fusion & disk replacement). I've been teaching tennis for 30+ years. My symptoms started 2+ years ago w/ numbness and tingling in both arms/hands. Later the numbness/tingling went to my legs/feet. MRI revealed my spinal column had less than half the space it's supposed to have. As a result, my spinal cord was being crushed. I'm very lucky that I'm able to walk. I hopefully should be back teaching in September. I know fellow teaching pro's that have had knee replacements, hip replacements and rotor cuff surgery etc.
Share your surgeries.

Hello seano10s...I had a look at those procedures on youtube and that looks really painful...really serious. Sorry to hear that. I was curious as to what your rehab will be like and what it will entail. Thanks for sharing. Where have you been teaching at for all that time?

Personally I took off thirteen years and hardly ever touched a racquet. I am convinced that respite from tennis worked in my favor now that I am reviving my tennis later on in life...although when I first started back I thought that I needed two or three surgeries in order to reconstruct me.

I have found myself doing some yoga and stretching doing the preventative maintenance thing trying to head off problems before they occur and to rehab the relatively minor ones that I have had. I have been somewhat shocked to see the frequency of occurrence of injuries to the Achilles tendon and lower calf area of the leg in students and players that are somewhat past their prime or out of condition.

Looking back is there anything that you could have done to prevent your condition getting so serious or is it the natural result of so much wear and tear?

I appreciate your thoughtful comments and insights into the forum recently. Please continue and best to your recovery!

[GeoffWilliams]

My racquet hand tendons were cut in a work accident in UC berkeley. Drove myself to the hospital with one hand. Watched the doc cut my hand open, exposing the super white bones, and a layer of very yellow fat under the skin, attached to it. Blood kept pumping up into the exposed parts from the stream. Bits of yellow fat floating in it as the doc sewed the tendons back together. Went back to work the next day and broke the sewing so had to go back and cut through the healing skin and do the whole thing over again. Had to go to estimates with a jacket over my hand to hide the injury so no one would see it and decide not to hire me to work. Skin welded to the back of my hand, zig zagging like a nazi cross, and to this day causes me to sometimes lose the frame as the grip was compromised.

[tennis_chiro]

Have you tried Graston Therapy?

My racquet hand tendons were cut in a work accident in UC berkeley. Drove myself to the hospital with one hand. Watched the doc cut my hand open, exposing the super white bones, and a layer of very yellow fat under the skin, attached to it. Blood kept pumping up into the exposed parts from the stream. Bits of yellow fat floating in it as the doc sewed the tendons back together. Went back to work the next day and broke the sewing so had to go back and cut through the healing skin and do the whole thing over again. Had to go to estimates with a jacket over my hand to hide the injury so no one would see it and decide not to hire me to work. Skin welded to the back of my hand, zig zagging like a nazi cross, and to this day causes me to sometimes lose the frame as the grip was compromised.

Geoff, that sounds like an awful lot of scar tissue. I don't think you can do much for the tendons deep in your wrist and hand that in reality are more complex than the mechanical props they used for Luke Skywalker in Star Wars or for The Terminator, but Graston Therapy (http://www.grastontechnique.com/) may be able to help you break up some of the scar tissue between the surface skin and underlying muscles, tendons and ligaments. The muscles are supposed to move freely in an envelope of fascia. We get adhesions from abuse and trauma which limit the ability of the muscles to slide in that fascia and thereby compromising range of motion and flexibility. Graston Therapy directly addresses trying to take some of those adhesions out. The kind of trauma you are describing is massive, but I've had a lot of success using Graston to get relief for people who otherwise couldn't find it. It would be worth checking out. You'll know within a couple of treatments if it is doing you any good or not. A good practitioner may even be able to get deeper into those tendons and ligaments in your wrist and hand.

don