Tiger's doctor known for procedure

By John Lauerman
Bloomberg News
Published: Sunday, June 29, 2008 12:11 a.m. MDT
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The surgeon who operated on the damaged left knee of Tiger Woods is known for advancing a novel procedure that may help restore the top-ranked golfer's swing.

Woods' surgeon is Thomas Rosenberg, who practices at the Rosenberg Cooley Metcalf clinic in Park City. While the doctor isn't saying what technique he used on Woods, Rosenberg is an early developer of the "double-bundle" reconstruction of the anterior cruciate ligament, or ACL.

Most surgeons repair a damaged ACL, which Woods tore, with a single strand of tendon tissue, usually taken from the patient's knee or from a cadaver. Rosenberg pioneered replacing both of the two parts of the ACL. Some specialists believe it may preserve the finely tuned "screw" action of the knee as it hinges, said John Richmond, chairman of orthopedics at New England Baptist Hospital in Boston.

"The anterior cruciate ligament guides the knee joint," said Richmond. He says he uses both methods. "The perceived advantage of double-bundle surgery is that it restores a more normal motion."

Rosenberg, 61, declined to comment. Mark Steinberg, Woods' agent at International Management Group Inc. in Cleveland, said he didn't know how or why Woods selected Rosenberg.

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Woods, 32, is expected to recover from his ACL reconstruction on June 24 and the surgery won't have any "long-term effects on his career," Rosenberg said in a statement. It was the golfer's fourth knee surgery. Rosenberg cleaned cartilage from the same joint two months before Woods won the U.S. Open Tournament last week at Torrey Pines Golf Course in La Jolla, Calif. Woods wound up playing on the hurt knee over five days because of a 19-hole playoff.

Door hinge

The knee joint is similar to a door hinge in lacking side-to-side flexibility like that of the ball-shaped shoulder joint. Woods' 125-mile-an-hour swing involves sharp, excessive knee rotation that can damage ligaments, said Arnold Scheller, an orthopedist who retired as team physician of the 2008 NBA champion Boston Celtics last year.

"When you follow through, you rotate about 70 to 80 degrees across the knee," said Scheller, who also heads a clinic at New England Baptist. "That's a lot of rotational torque, and he's got a very powerful swing." Rosenberg first described the double-bundle technique in 1994, said Richmond, who says he has heard Rosenberg lecture on the approach frequently.

Joint flexes

"That's what he commonly does," Richmond said. "I would expect he would have used it, although that's just speculation." In a healthy knee, the two parts of the ACL the anteromedial and posterolateral bundles tighten and loosen independently as the joint flexes, giving the joint what surgeons call a "screw-home" motion, said Ralph Gambardella, president of the Kerlan-Jobe Orthopaedic Clinic in Inglewood, Calif. While single-bundle reconstruction gives good results, the double-bundle technique is closer to the knee's natural anatomy, he said.

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Recent comments

Dr. Rosenburg is top notch he completed ACL reconstruction on both...

TMONEY | June 29, 2008 at 8:23 p.m.

He is the #1 golfer in the world, what do you expect????????????

annon. | June 29, 2008 at 10:51 a.m.

Uh Willie, the story was actually about an innovative local orthopedic...

bombadil | June 29, 2008 at 10:26 a.m.