Tiger Woods Subtalar Fusion surgery: What is it, and How long will he be out of play?

Tiger Woods will be undergoing the subtalar fusion surgery to recover from lingering arthritis.

Tiger Woods Subtalar Fusion surgery: What is it, and How long will he be out of play?

Credits: Getty Images

For the past few years, Tiger Woods has been suffering one of the roughest phases of his career. He has been ridden with injuries for quite some time, the most horrific being from his 2021 car accident which still has its aftereffects. Woods was forced to withdraw from the Augusta Masters this year, forcing him to undergo subtalar fusion surgery.

According to Woods, he is still a champion, capable of playing with his ailing and weak physical condition. He still believes that he can contend for a few more Majors, be it the Augusta Masters or The Open, where his fans could see the prowess for which he is pretty well known.

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For the unversed, Woods is still suffering from lingering arthritis from his 2021 car crash, which left him limping while walking around at the Augusta National. However, doctors say that he has made a tremendous recovery from his original injury. The question that many fans ask is, what is a subtalar fusion surgery? It is a surgery where doctors turn two bones and a joint below the ankle into a bigger bone. While it may slightly restrict movement below the right ankle, it is crucial for a pain-free future later.

Related: 15-time major champion Tiger Woods undergoing more rehab after dramatic Masters withdrawal

What is subtalar fusion?

Tiger Woods
Credits: Getty Images

Following his 2021 car crash incident, Tiger Woods broke his talus, a bone in the human body. It is one of the prominent bones which connects the foot to the femur, thereby connecting to the ankle joint. Breaking the talus would mean arthritis on either the ankle joint, the subtalar joints, and the joint in front of the talus inginma joint.

Now because of this injury to the talus, Tiger has developed subtalar arthritis, which means his joint is wearing and tearing off. This is one of the reasons why he was having extreme difficulty walking at Augusta National Course, forcing him to withdraw. However, despite such ailments, Tiger Woods still made the cut for the 23rd consecutive time at the Masters, making him the first player to do so.

Converting the joint into a stiff one, which is not painful for the patient, is called subtalar joint arthrodesis or fusion. This surgery will keep Tiger Woods away from professional tournaments for a while, even meaning he might lose out on participating in some of the biggest golf events this year.

When will Tiger Woods be back on the field?

Woods cus 2
Credits: Getty Images

It is quite hard to estimate when Tiger Woods will be back up playing. The doctors have suggested Woods not put weight on his heel for at least six or twelve weeks. This might mean he still has enough time to compete in the last three Majors this season.

An expert, Professor Nima Heidari, says on a positive note,  “When he [Tiger] reaches that point where things have healed enough then it becomes unrestricted and again in him I suspect that they would be keeping a very close eye on him and he may have one or two more scans to really assess the bone union so that they can optimize his return to play.”

Heidari also thinks that Tiger Woods has the possibility of making a stunning return back to competitive golf. He says, “He’s still managed to play astonishingly good golf from coming out of the injury, and he’s been treated by a very, very skillful surgeon. So technically he would have had a superb operation. And off the back of that, then it is the case that, honestly if he’s got less pain, he will just get on with it.”

Tiger Woods and his determination itself sets example that this legend of golf has all the capabilities to shock the community with a stellar return to the field. Till then, fans await and pray for his speedy recovery from this injury.

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