The Golfers’ back, by Dr. Biodun Ogungbo

Have you met a 66-year old who plays golf? Have you met a female golfer with a bad back? Have you met a golfer who had major spine surgery and returned to competitive golf? A grandmother for that matter! Well, meet MariaMmakwe, the quintessential, never give up golfer.
We first met her in ’17 complaining of a severe back pain radiating down both legs.
She had a fall in ’07 which may have accelerated her degenerative spine disease.
Of course, the love of golf definitely contributed too.
The back pain had gradually worsened and became pretty severe over the past year before presentation in the clinic.
She was now finding it difficult to walk and the pain made life miserable.
Her social life especially golf had taken a nose dive! She had been to several hospitals over the months and taken shiploads of painkillers without appreciable succor.
So, surgery as a permanent solution was an easy sell.
It helped that there was something to operate on as she had degenerate discs and pressure on her nerves at several places in the back.
The pain in the back was coming from the discs that had worn out and causing pressure on the nerves (causing the leg pains).
In this regard, operating on the discs to correct the weak areas would also remove the pressure on the nerves.
Does that make sense? The discs are the shock absorbers better the bones in the back.
If they wear out, the bones start to rub together causing back pain.
In wearing out, the discs can also bulge, pressing on the nerves and causing the leg pains.
So, many people with back trouble also have leg pains due to irritation of the nerves.
Operation She consented to major spine surgery which was carried out successfully in Abuja.
In a 4-hour operation, the discs were removed and replaced with an artificial material.
The pressure on the nerves were relieved and the bones held together with screws and rods.
Effectively, the back and leg pains were resolved at the operation.
Recovery Her recovery was slow and complicated with residual leg pains but, this gradually got better over the weeks and months of physiotherapy, walks and gentle exercises.
She also gradually returned to watching golf, walking on the course and putting on the green.Then, bang, she returned to competitive golf and started winning again.
The golfer was back! Oh well, she is no Tiger but still rules OK! Information There are people who complain of back pain and leg pains.
The back pain is in the lower back and can radiate to the waist or the hip.
The pain is worse with activity: sitting, standing etc.
it is often better at night though it can sometimes disturb sleep and wake some people up in the morning.
In some people, the pain is associated with leg pains.
The leg pain can be in one or both legs.
It can be around the hip or go down the leg to the ankle and the toes.
The leg pain is often described as sharp: like knife or electric shock sensations down the leg.
It may be associated with walking or sitting.
Lumbar spondylosis Lumbar is the medical term for the lower back.
Spondylosis is also the term referring to degenerative arthritis of the joints between the bones.
Degenerative arthritis simply means ‘wear and tear’ due to the aging process.
Therefore, lumbar spondylosis is arthritis of the back due to increasing age.
Pain in the back can radiate to the hips, the legs and the private parts.
With pressure on the nerves, it can lead to numbness in the legs and weakness causing difficulty in walking.
It can be so bad as to cause problems with passing urine and stool.
It can also affect sexual function.
What to do in your case? You have to decide which category you belong to: mild, moderate or severe.
The treatment of lumbar spondylosis depends largely on how this is affecting your life.
Is it causing numbness, weakness or difficulty passing urine or stool? Is it affecting your sex life with numbness in the private parts or poor erection in men? Those may mean you are in the moderate or severe category and should see a doctor promptly.
Mild cases can be managed with simple sensible behavior like losing weight, stop smoking and start some exercise program to keep the joints moving and lubricated.
Drugs like Panadol and Paracetamol can also help with mild pains and can be taken once in a while.
The key though is for a serious attempt at losing weight if you are even slightly overweight for your height.
Moderate and severe cases need the services of a spine surgeon.
A test called the MRI scan is indicated and will help in confirming the diagnosis.
We can determine what is wrong, where and how bad on the basis of the symptoms, clinical examination and what we see on the MRI scan.
Operation Operations may be recommended for severe pains, leg weakness and disability.
The operations are designed for each individual and depends on the problem shown in the MRI scan.
Operations are safe and currently give over 95% good outcome for the usual problems in lumbar spondylosis.
It can give you your life back!