Thread by @bambam1729

So does the fact that Tiger is having surgery on bilateral leg injuries indicate that they are each severe leg injuries? Not necessarily. 1/n

It is an orthopaedic trauma guideline that multiple extremity injuries, especially bilateral lower extremity injuries, and especially fractures, require surgery, regardless of the severity. 2/n

The reason is that, even if any single injury is not severe, the multiplicity or bilaterality makes it difficult to stabilize injuries enough to mobilize a patient without surgery. 3/n

With bilateral lower leg injuries, surgical stabilization allows rehab and recovery to start much earlier. Without surgery, patients may be wheelchair bound, or what we call bed-to-chair bound. 4/end

One of the LA County police officers mentioned that Tiger was in shock. Medically, that is probably unlikely. There is a specific medical definition of shock and it is very different from a lay persons definition of it. more/

A lay person says someone is in “shock” when basically they mean “they were shocked by what just happened.” Medically, to a trauma surgeon, being in shock is far worse and often can be life threatening.