Tammy Turner experienced serious back pain over much of 1996 competing on the Sam's Town AMF Ladies Pro Bowlers Tour. At first, she figured it was normal from the grueling schedule of the tour over the course of a year. But the pain only became worse.
She finally consulted 15 chiropractors, three doctors, and her bowling colleagues, along with friends and family for advice. Turner received a different opinion from each person she asked.
The 1992 Collegiate Academic All-American had to make a choice between physical therapy and a full-fledged back operation. She considered all she learned for three months before opting for a tedious operation on the fracture in her spine.
"There are two distinct schools of thought on back injuries such as mine," Turner said. "Chiropractors think everything can be cured through massage therapy and manipulation, and surgeons think the best route to a cure is through surgery. I ran into confusion because of those philosophical differences. I thought at first if I lay off for a while after the summer tour, it could be corrected with some physical therapy and a long period of exercise. My orthopedic surgeon said at that time surgery was an option, but he didn't think it was necessary. I saw some other doctors and got several opinions about my future, and I decided surgery was the best way to go after all."
Turner decided as a result of her tests that if she did physical therapy alone without surgery, her future on the tour was uncertain at best, and the constant pain in her back would never subside unless she had a bone graft operation.
Without surgery, Turner believed her future
on the tour was uncertain at best.
"I had a crack in one of the bones in my lower back. The surgeons had to go in and remove the broken bone. I have screws, pins, and a bone graft. All of that is supposed to take the place of the bone they removed. The surgeons removed the cracked bone in my spine completely. Because it's not there anymore, I needed something else to take its place. They took a bone graft from my right hip and replaced the hole in my back with the bone graft. While I'm waiting for the graft to harden, they inserted screws and pins to hold it in place. They stay in there permanently unless you have problems, and then they can be removed later."
The bone graft is never as strong as the original bone, so for reinforcement reasons, the screws and pins will always remain in Turner's back, which is her preference. There is a 20 percent chance for patients who have this surgery to need it again because other parts of the spine will attempt to help the weak portion and could fracture under stress. Turner, however, was willing to take the chance since the possibilities of her having this particular problem occur were minimal.
Another problem Turner could encounter is stiffness in the back as the graft grows and hardens. Once the bone is taken from the hip and transplanted, it actually grows and melds with the bones in the back and hardens over time. This can cause stiffness in the lower back area, thus inhibiting Turner's movement on the approach as she bowls. Arthritis also could affect the area later in her life.
"I'm always stiff now, but I don't have the pain, so massage therapy helps me now. Another problem is scar tissue, which forms around the graft. Sometimes the body rejects a graft, even if it's from your own body. Scar tissue can build up to the point of infection, and then the surgeon has to go back in and operate. I haven't had any problems like this so far. I've been lucky, and it seems to be working well."
Turner soon hopes to return to LPBT competition. Dr. Daniel Goldstein of Advanced Sports and Physical Therapy in West Palm Beach, Fla., near to where she had the operation, gave Turner the OK to go back to bowling, and she has been practicing since June.
The right hip from which the surgeon removed bone for grafting with Turner's back actually was more painful for her, with soreness in the hip, than was the spinal section, which was removed from her back.
More soreness in the grafted area than anywhere else is typical for this type of operation. Cathy Dorin discovered this when she had bone grafting for her wrist surgery. Several other women on the tour have had similar operations, including Robin Romeo-Mossontte and Wendy Macpherson, and they have bowled better as a result. Mossontte underwent surgery on her wrist to remove bone spurs and repair torn ligaments. The record holder for most consecutive match play appearances of 77 tried to tough it out in the Texas Border Shoot-Out in McAllen, but the tremendous pain in her wrist forced the Hall of Famer to withdraw.
Turner, who celebrated her 27th birthday Aug. 11, had the Jan. 21 surgery largely because her youth and relative good health were to her advantage. The older she gets, the chances of a full recovery without complications would lessen.
Turner was at the top of the LPBT standings in several categories last year when her back pain became unbearable. It shattered her dreams to not compete.
"I feel sad that I wasn't able to see how I would have bowled the last eight tournaments in 1996 because when I stopped bowling I was leading in points, I had won two tournaments, and I was contending for bowler of the year. If I look at it in a positive way, I can't really be disappointed since it was the best I've ever done in my career."
She needed to recover from her operation, so Turner even missed a planned trip to South Africa on a friendship mission to acquaint bowlers with the LPBT.
The 1994 LPBT Rookie of the Year started her bowling again slowly, first by using a 10-pound ball as she did as a young girl, then to a 12-pounder.
"It'll take me at least a month to get back to 15 pounds and a couple of months to get back into tournament shape bowling regularly again," Turner said. "I'm shooting for getting back in full-time on the fall tour."