Orthopedic surgeon Dr. Scott Boden decomposed the extent of Tiger Woods’ injuries and the appearance of his recovery on CNBC’s “The News with Shepard Smith,” following the golfer’s devastating accident Tuesday morning.
“We know this because it was an open fracture, meaning that the bone penetrated the skin, at least temporarily, and that it broke in several places, that it was a very high energy fracture. and that makes it a little harder to heal, ”said the professor of orthopedic surgery at Emory University School of Medicine.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said Woods is lucky to live after crashing his sports utility vehicle on a steep, winding road in Palos Verdes, south of Los Angeles.
Tiger Woods is “awake, sensitive and recovering” from lengthy surgery to repair what a doctor called “serious injuries” to his right leg, according to a statement posted via his official Twitter account at 12:30 a.m. Wednesday. This is the 45th surgery of the 45-year-old golfer.
Dr. Anish Mahajan, chief physician at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, said Woods suffered “chopped open fractures” in the upper and lower sections of his right leg. To stabilize Woods ’leg, doctors needed to insert a bar, screws, and pins into his foot and ankle.
Boden told host Shepard Smith that the information that appears about the golfer’s ankle and foot injuries will reveal a lot about recovery time.
“If these injuries affected the smooth joint surface of the bones where they move to the ankle or foot, then it could be a problem with long-term recovery and arthritis and regaining the full range of motion,” Boden explained in an interview Wednesday in the evening.
Boden also noted that “there are chances of infection,” but that we don’t know the size of the skin opening, so “we can’t be sure about that.” He added that while the recovery will persist, “it is never advisable to rely on Tiger when it comes to a return.”