Tiger Wood’s Real Source Of Championship Withdrawal – Inflamed Cervical Facet Joint

Tiger Wood’s recent unprecedented withdrewal with a sore neck in Round 4 of The Players Championship, 2010. Rumour mills have been suggesting he wasn’t playing to expectation. And as a result, he pulled out to save him from further embarrassment. Either that, or the sore neck came from the infamous car crash.

Regardless, an inflamed cervical facet joint, as was confirmed by his MRI, can cause symptoms serious enough for a typical office worker to take sick leave, let alone a professional athlete playing at the highest level.

Symptoms from an inflamed facet joint include, a limited range of motion due to pain and stiffness, especially in rotation, muscle spasms and radiating pain. Cervical headaches can also occur as described in a previous article [Neck-Related Headaches].

What Caused Tiger’s Injury?

As explained by Tiger previously, he ramped up his training intensity to get himself ready for the Master’s 2010. His body, however, was not conditioned enough to withstand the demand of high level sports. This causes excessive wear and tear, and as a result, overuse syndrome.

How Does A Facet Joint Get Inflamed?

Excessive wear and tear causes a facet joint to get inflamed, especially when the joint mobility is limited or stiff. Limited joint mobility limits joints from moving through its full range. It can arise due to a prolonged static position like a deskbound job, or when muscles are tight and inflexible. In fact, most neck pains are caused by stiff facet joints. This explains why the deskbound worker forms the largest proportion of our neck pain clientele.

Physiotherapy treatment for would include mobilisation techniques to the affected stiff facet joints to encourage mobility, stretching and strengthening exercises. Aggravating factors like prolonged static sitting position will have to be avoided and proper ergonomics advise will be given to prevent a recurrence.

Experiencing neck pain? Click here to find out more about physiotherapy for neck pain relief and how Core Concepts can help.