By Peter Brukner
March 13 2003
Until last weekend, Brad Ottens assumed that his low back pain was a minor problem. On Sunday morning, after a practice match against Carlton, he was examined by club doctor Chris Bradshaw, who noted some muscle weakness in his leg.
An MRI scan confirmed that Ottens had ruptured a disc in his lumbar spine and that the ruptured disc material was pressing on one of the nerves to the leg.
With hindsight one could assume that his low back pain of the previous weeks was due to an internal tear of the disc and at some stage during Saturday's game the disc ruptured, extruding the thick gelatinous material into the area where the nerve exits the spine.
Usually, a wait-and-see attitude is adopted in the hope that the disc material will be gradually resorbed and no longer press on the nerve. But with the season starting in two weeks, the Richmond medical staff decided surgery would be a better option, and the extruded disc material was removed in a relatively simple procedure.
The damaged nerve will slowly recover its full function and Ottens will continue to work on a program designed to improve the strength and stability of his low back and pelvic region. The usual time to full recovery is 12 weeks. With intensive physiotherapy and bearing in mind his excellent physical condition, the Tigers would be hoping to have Ottens playing in eight to 10 weeks.
Peter Brukner is Associate Professor in Sports Medicine at the University of Melbourne.
March 13 2003
Until last weekend, Brad Ottens assumed that his low back pain was a minor problem. On Sunday morning, after a practice match against Carlton, he was examined by club doctor Chris Bradshaw, who noted some muscle weakness in his leg.
An MRI scan confirmed that Ottens had ruptured a disc in his lumbar spine and that the ruptured disc material was pressing on one of the nerves to the leg.
With hindsight one could assume that his low back pain of the previous weeks was due to an internal tear of the disc and at some stage during Saturday's game the disc ruptured, extruding the thick gelatinous material into the area where the nerve exits the spine.
Usually, a wait-and-see attitude is adopted in the hope that the disc material will be gradually resorbed and no longer press on the nerve. But with the season starting in two weeks, the Richmond medical staff decided surgery would be a better option, and the extruded disc material was removed in a relatively simple procedure.
The damaged nerve will slowly recover its full function and Ottens will continue to work on a program designed to improve the strength and stability of his low back and pelvic region. The usual time to full recovery is 12 weeks. With intensive physiotherapy and bearing in mind his excellent physical condition, the Tigers would be hoping to have Ottens playing in eight to 10 weeks.
Peter Brukner is Associate Professor in Sports Medicine at the University of Melbourne.
