OK, so Tiger Woods had a subtalar fusion to his right foot today, to alleviate the pain from the arthritis that developed after his car crash in January 2021. What exactly is that, why did he have it done, and what can be expected from it? 1/n First of all, the release specifically said it was a subtalar fusion. That is not an ankle fusion as I saw reported by Reuters. They are different surgeries. 2/n

Before Boston yesterday everybody in the media anointed Eliud Kipchoge as the marathon GOAT. He certainly deserves such acclaim. But another marathoner deserves it – just as much. They are #1 and #1A, in no particular order, IMO. 1/n I speak of fellow Ethiopian Abebe Bikila, who seems to have been forgotten in the rush to declare Kipchoge the marathon GOAT. Their records are eerily similar. Let’s look at them. 2/n

So sitting in the Delta Sky Club at the Salt Lake City during 32 hour sojourn to get back home after Beijing. Coming a thread on my Beijing experience - similar to many I suspect. 1/n So now back from Beijing and 4 weeks in the closed loop gulag. It was not nearly the fun that most Olympic Games are. We couldn’t go anywhere – even to walk across the street to a 7-11 (there are a lot of them in Beijing – saw from the bus). 2/n

Tuesday is the night of the Champions Dinner at Augusta National. Will Tiger Woods be there? What is his status since his automobile accident on 24 February? 1/n It’s actually a decent time to look at the status of his recovery since Wednesday, 7 April, will be 6 weeks since his accident, which is an important landmark to orthopaedists. 2/n

A bit more on Tiger Woods’ injuries. Tiger’s people put out a release and said he had “follow-up procedures on his injuries this morning.” What would that have been and what does that mean? 1/n If you saw my 1st thread about Tiger’s injuries, I noted he had an open fracture(s) of the tibia and had a compartment release, either for a compartment syndrome, or a prophylactic procedure to prevent a compartment syndrome from developing. 2/n

A bit more on Tiger’s injuries – ESPN reporting he sustained a fracture of the talus and had screws inserted in that bone. What does that mean? 1/n The talus is a bone in your foot, basically at the top of your foot, and with the lower part of the tibia (shinbone), it forms the bulk of your ankle joint. 2/n

So here are the ?s and some answers about Tiger and his injuries. First of all, Tiger and his handlers are notoriously secretive so we will likely not get full information. That is always a patient’s prerogative, and with HIPAA, treating MDs cannot reveal details. 1/n Tiger had a “rod” placed into his tibia for tibia fracture(s) – this is what we usually call in orthopaedics an IM nail = intramedullary nail. It runs down the middle of the tibia (or other long bones) and stabilizes the fracture while it is healing. 2/n

As a comparison, here are pictures of Tiger's car and Hogan's car after the two crashes Being hit by a bus is not a good thing. Also, cars are a lot stronger in 2021 than in 1949 to enable people to survive the crash longer.

And for the media "compound fracture" is an archaic term that orthopaedists never use anymore. The correct term in use since the early 1980s, at least, is an "open fracture" as opposed to a "closed fracture".

https://twitter.com/DanielNMiller/status/1364363635045228545

An open fracture is one in which the skin is broken overlying the fracture and the break in the skin communicates with the fracture hematoma, or blood collection from the fracture.

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