Tiger Woods: Breakdown of Tiger’s Injury Problems

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Tiger Woods News Update: Medical Diagnosis

With more information regarding Tiger Woods injury coming out it is important to realize that this is not just one single injury.

In fact it seems like injuries are starting to compound for Tiger, and many people are starting to question how this will not only affect the rest of his tournament year, but his career.

ESPN injury expert Stephania Bell talks about the injuries that Tiger is experiencing in expert detail.

The injury on its own isn't particularly dire. The medial collateral ligament (MCL) is the ligament that reinforces the inner aspect of the knee joint, running from the femur (thighbone) to the tibia (shinbone).

A Grade 1, or mild, sprain indicates an overstretching of the ligament. Actual tissue damage is often in the form of microtearing, giving little visual evidence of deformity of the ligament upon imaging. Often, the most significant findings are tenderness directly over the injury site and minimal swelling.

The pain tends to worsen when the ligament is stretched. Bowing in of the knee (the "knock-kneed" position, also called valgus) will place strain on the MCL, resulting in discomfort. Depending which fibers within the ligament are affected, pain also can occur at extremes of motion when the knee is fully straight or fully flexed.

The Achilles tendon strain, also described as mild, suggests the same level of minor injury as Woods' MCL diagnosis. The Achilles tendon is a broad, flat tendon that serves as the bridge anchoring the calf muscles to the heel bone (calcaneus).

A sore Achilles tendon will be aggravated when the calf muscle contracts, transferring load through the tendon to the heel to advance the foot when walking. The tendon also can be sensitive to extreme stretch, such as when the toes are pulled toward the shin. One reason a walking boot (such as the one Woods was wearing after the Masters) can be helpful is that it elevates the heel from the ground and helps shift the weight forward, decreasing the effort the calf muscle has to exert and consequently decreasing the load on the tendon.

Although neither injury is particularly alarming on its own, any performance-altering ailment in an otherwise finely tuned athlete can render the athlete, at the very least, ineffective. At worst, it can cause him to be incapable of performing. On Thursday, Woods' performance deteriorated rapidly along that spectrum.

Although it's impossible to know precisely what symptoms Woods was experiencing at which moment, there are several biomechanical considerations. The position of Woods' left knee at the top of his backswing is the knock-kneed position, and the bulk of his weight is over his right leg. During the downswing action, he has to rapidly transfer his weight toward his front foot to drive the ball.

The extreme backswing position and subsequent transition phase certainly could bother his MCL, perhaps enough to prevent adequate weight transfer. Failure to transfer body weight properly can manifest as a loss of power through the remainder of the swing, resulting in decreased accuracy. The ball might not travel as far as it should and might end up being misdirected.

Stay tuned for more updates on the Tiger Woods right here on Bleacher Report.

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