Scott’s Story

After years and years of practice, Scott Pinckney was exactly where he wanted to be: Playing in the PGA tour. And he was off to a promising start – posting nine top-25 finishes in the first two years, and tying for 2nd place in the 2015 AT&T Byron Nelson.

Scott should have been on top of the world. But he wasn’t. Behind the scenes, Scott was suffering with back pain, and it seemed to be getting worse by the day.

“There were times when I couldn’t bend down and pick something up off the floor," he said, "let alone swing a golf club.”

Pinckney tried to play through the pain, but it was severe enough that it  impacted every part of his game, and in his second year on the tour, he lost his card. He had a five month window to get it back, and he knew he had his work cut out for him. But he was trapped in a vicious cycle. He knew his game wasn’t good enough, and he needed to practice. But the more he practiced, the more his back hurt. And the more his back hurt, the less he could practice. It was a constant balancing act, and the love he had for the game began to fade.

Instead of having a full-time job playing golf, like he’d always dreamed of, Scott had a full-time job trying to manage the pain and stay mobile enough to play in the next event. “My emotions would rise and fall with my pain,” he said. “When the pain was really bad, I would get depressed. It was just miserable, because I couldn’t do what I loved to do, the way I knew I could do it." 

"But it was more than that," Scott added. "Pain is debilitating. People don’t understand how bad it is – how much it affects your whole life.”

Pinckney went to several different doctors, and many of them offered to give him injections to relieve the pain. The injections helped somewhat, but they were a short-term approach that merely treated the symptom. Scott wanted something better. He wanted someone who would find the problem – and solve it.  

In 2018, he played in a golf tournament in Columbia, and at lunch that day, another golfer said, “I know a guy in Utah who I think could help you.” That guy was Dr. Eric Lee, a spinal biomechanics and trauma specialist at Vista Spine & Injury. Dr. Lee took the time to do a comprehensive exam and history on Scott, and worked with him closely to see how he would respond to various non-surgical treatments. He then referred him to Dr. John Edwards, a neurosurgeon at Summit Brain & Spine.

Pinckney told Dr. Edwards, “Look, at this point, I just want to be totally pain-free. I had hoped to be able to play golf again some day, but my number one goal is to be able to move without the pain. When I have kids, I want to be able to play with them -- you know -- I just want a regular life.”

Scott’s MRI showed that he had a small end-plate fracture at L-5 – a disc in his lower back – and the image further suggested that it would not heal on its own. Dr. Edwards recommended he have surgery to repair the disc.

Dr. Edwards performed an Anterior Lumbar Interbody Fusion (ALIF) on Pinckney. The procedure involves taking the disc out completely, placing a spacer that holds the disc space open, putting in screws to lock it into position, and using cadaver bone to stabilize it.

The surgery went well, and less than 3 weeks later, Pinckney said, “I feel amazing. My everyday life is so much better! Before surgery, I couldn’t walk without getting stiff, but just 5 days after surgery, I was able to walk 2 ½ miles, with no stiffness."

Asked if he thought he would get back to the game, Scott responded, “Not having the pain has lit the fire in me again. I’ve started to do a little putting and chipping. But I’m in no rush. Right now, I’m just taking it day by day, but feeling very grateful to be living and moving without pain.”

#summitbrainandspine

#dredwards

#lifeisback