Known for his spectacular kicks, his big extreme differences and his very … personal quotes, actor Jean-Claude Van Damme has recently been experiencing some health problems. According to the daily Midi Librehe is currently being based near Montpellier, following an operation and hospitalization on site.
A heavy back and rest operation
For 8 days, the 64 -year -old Belgian actor was hospitalized in a private clinic for a heavy back operation. “Normally, I do not communicate on the identity of our patients during their stay. But yes, I confirm that he was with us for eight days” thus revealed the manager of the park clinic in Castelnau-le-Lez to the media (also breaking medical confidentiality, editor’s note). The exact cause is not specified, but the doctor suggested that his clinic counted several “Surgeons specialized in the spine”.
A back problem that would however have nothing surprising, given the actor’s career. In an interview with Télé-Loisirslast January this had already admitted:
“I have a few sores, the neck, the hips, my back. But I am very lucky, I am very flexible for my age. In the morning, I train, I warm up well … You wake up with a good dose of endorphins, you are happy.”
Possible pathologies that require back surgery
At 64, it is normal for the body of “JCVD” to have undergone some sores. According to Dr. Kierzek, several pathologies of the spine can touch an athlete in this profile and, in some cases, justify surgery.
Degenerative pathologies
- Hernia disc : Frequent in martial arts practitioners, it results from repeated flexions and rotations. It causes radicular pain (sciatica, cervico-brachial neuralgia), sometimes accompanied by loss of strength and sensitive disorders. If the pain persists more than 6 to 8 weeks despite conservative treatment, surgery can impose itself;
- Canal stenosis : Osteoarthritis can lead to a narrowing of the spinal canal, causing neurogenic claudication (pain with relieved walking while leaning forward), tingling and weakness of the legs. It is a natural evolution but accentuated by sports wear.
Vertebral instabilities
- Spondylolisthesis: It is the shift from one vertebra to another. Sports with repeated impacts aggravate this instability, generating chronic low back pain and irradiating pain;
- Severe discopathy: It results in a loss of disc height and chronic inflammation, resulting in disabling pain, often resistant to infiltration and rehabilitation.
Traumatic pathologies
- In martial arts, shocks and projections expose to vertebral fractures, sometimes unstable or compressing the marrow. In a senior sportsman, osteoporosis can worsen the risk of vertebral settlement.
When to have the column operated?
Dr. Kierzek distinguishes two major situations:
- Absolute indications: major neurological deficit, ponytail syndrome, threatening instability;
- Relative indications : Devanty pain for more than 3 to 6 months, severe functional limitation, impossibility of continuing the activity, sleep disorders or significant psychological repercussions.
“At 64, the intervention threshold can be earlier because natural recovery is slower and osteoarthritis progresses faster” he said.
For a sportsman such as Jean-Claude Van Damme, surgery must also adapt. Several techniques are envisaged.
Mini-invasive techniques
Privileged to preserve muscles and accelerate the recovery:
- Percutaneous discectomy: Targeted withdrawal of a herniated disc by micro-knit, recovery in 2 to 4 weeks;
- Endoscopic foramnotomy: Decompression of a nerve stuck in a narrowed foramen.
Decompression surgeries
- Selective laminectomy: widening of the narrow lumbar canal;
- Mini-Invasive Arthrodesis (Tlif/Plif) : vertebral fusion by small incisions, in case of instability.
Cervical surgeries
- Anterior cervical discectomy: Treatment of a cervical hernia, with recovery in 6 to 12 weeks, particularly relevant in the event of trauma -related trauma.
At the end of these, the recovery of soft sports can occur after 6 to 8 weeks. On the other hand, complete martial arts require 3 to 6 months of rest depending on the intervention. “The objective, underlines Dr. Kierzek, is to allow a return to martial practice while preserving muscle function. “
If Jean-Claude Van Damme has to get off today, it is therefore not for an action scene, but to rest for a few weeks.