Tiger Woods undergoes a Lumbar Disc Replacement (L4-5) | Richard Guyer, MD & Alex Satin MD

We jumped on this story a few days back when the news broke that Tiger Woods had undergone a LUMBAR DISC REPLACEMENT (LDR) at L4-5. It was just last year that Tiger underwent a L4-5 decompression/microdiscectomy procedure above a prior L5-S1 fusion. On this episode of TheAthleteSpine, we are joined on this episode by Dr. Richard Guyer, who actually performed Tiger’s L5-S1 fusion that got him back to winning a Masters in 2019! Dr. Guyer serves as a Spine Surgeon, Co-Founder & Co-Fellowship Director at the Texas Back Institute as well as the Co-Director for the Center for Disc Replacement. We are also joined by one his partners Dr. Alexander Satin, who is also a spine surgeon at Texas Back Institute and Co-Director their spine fellowship program. Both are experts in the field of lumbar disc replacements! We dive into the world of LDRs! What is a Lumbar Disc Replacement? Is it common for L4-5 to become a problem after a L5-S1 fusion? Who are the best candidates for a LDR? What does the recovery process look like? Why are these less common than cervical disc replacements? And most importantly — will Tiger be able to return to golf?! #tigerwoods #golf #spinesurgery #spine #spineinjury #golf #PGA #discreplacement