Back Surgery

Backup catcher Todd Hundley, who has an inflamed sciatic nerve in his lower back, said Friday he is determined to avoid undergoing season-ending back surgery. "I'm doing everything possible so that doesn't have to happen," said Hundley, on the disabled list since May 4. "I'm in uncharted waters, so I know anything can happen, but that's not where we are right now."

They were damaged goods a year ago, with a new coaching staff coming in. Defensive backs Anthony Jefferson and Brandon Sermons had little opportunity to make an initial impression. Jefferson was still recovering from a back surgery that forced him to sit out the 2011 season. Sermons had seen limited duty after suffering a broken leg that wiped his 2010 season. Both are making an impression this spring. "They are putting themselves in position to show who they were coming out of high school," said secondary coach Demetrice Martin . "Both of them were pretty highly recruited guys.

A quick, outpatient operation for one of the most troublesome back problems--slipped or herniated disks--is emerging as a tantalizing alternative to major surgery. In the procedure--called percutaneous diskectomy--surgeons insert a needle-like instrument into the middle of the affected spinal disk and cut out excess disk material under vacuum pressure, without using even a general anesthetic.

Long layoffs are a curious thing for an injured athlete. Weeks, sometimes months, creep by slowly. Then, suddenly, there is a quick burst of progress. That's what has happened with Kings defenseman Matt Greene , who was officially cleared for contact Monday. He practiced with his teammates in the morning and got on a plane with them to travel to a game for the first time this season. This does not mean Greene, who had back surgery in late January to repair a herniated disk, will be in the Kings' lineup Tuesday night against the Sharks at San Jose.

Angel relief pitcher Donnie Moore, the subject of recent criticism by General Manager Mike Port for his failure to pitch more frequently this season, said Tuesday night that he will have arthroscopic back surgery Monday. Moore said that Drs. Robert Watkins and Lewis Yocum would attempt to remove a bone fragment or spur that has been irritating a nerve and creating the persistent pain in the area of his rib cage for almost two years.

Board of Supervisors Chairman Thomas F. Riley is scheduled to be released today from Hoag Hospital, where he has been recovering from spinal surgery performed last week, his chief of staff said Monday. Riley, 81, who had lower back surgery Thursday to relieve pinched nerves, was up and about over the weekend with the assistance of a walker, aide Christie McDaniel said. The surgery is the latest in a string of medical problems to beset Riley.

The trial of Whitewater figure Susan McDougal on charges she embezzled $150,000 from conductor Zubin Mehta's wife has been postponed 12 days while McDougal recovers from back surgery, a court spokeswoman said Thursday. Superior Court Judge Leslie Light put off jury selection in the trial, which is expected to last between four and six weeks, until Aug. 3. Another judge had already delayed the proceedings for the same reason earlier this month.

Former Orange County Supervisor Thomas F. Riley was recovering Monday after nearly five hours of back and neck surgery to relieve painful compression of the spine, according to officials at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. "He's doing well, he's recovering," clinic spokesman John LaForza said after speaking with Riley's surgeon.

Rocco Mediate shot a four-under-par 66 Friday and caught Wayne Levi at the midway point of the MasterCard Colonial at Fort Worth. "I've got a new body and a new swing and . . . I'm ecstatic," said Mediate, a two-time winner on the PGA Tour who is rebounding from back surgery. "I enjoy the game more now than I ever did." Levi, the 1990 PGA player of the year but a non-winner since, had a 68 and shared the lead at 134.

Quarterback Dieter Brock, who played in both the National Football League and its Canadian counterpart, said a chronic back injury will force him to retire. Brock, 36, has two years remaining on a $2.1 million, four-year contract with the Los Angeles Rams, a team he helped lead to the NFC championship game in 1985. But the former Jacksonville State star sat out nearly all of last year. "I've accepted the fact that it's over," Brock said. "I can't do it like I am."

The Lakers' season all comes down to Wednesday. By the end of the night, they will either have secured the seventh or eighth seed in the playoffs, or they will have been eliminated. Without Kobe Bryant on the court, Dwight Howard knows that the team will be looking to him for leadership. "There's no pressure," Howard said. "We understand the importance of the game but we just need to go play and be free. We don't need to put pressure on ourselves. Just go have fun and win the game.

Kobe Bryant will be sidelined six to nine months because of a torn left Achilles' tendon, Lakers trainer Gary Vitti said Saturday afternoon. Bryant could possibly be back in time for the start of next season, Vitti said. The NBA will not release the 2013-14 schedule until August but teams typically begin playing around Oct. 31. Bryant was about to undergo surgery at an undisclosed location when Vitti met with reporters a little after noon Saturday at the team's training facility.

Jonathan Quick was the first goalie to leave the ice Friday after practice at El Segundo, generally the right of the next game's starter. It was mildly surprising, considering that Jonathan Bernier had shut out Minnesota on Thursday, but to Coach Darryl Sutter - who doesn't disclose his starter - it made perfect sense. "We trust them both. We have to do it that way," Sutter said. "With 11 games left we want them both to be consistent and we'll definitely need them both.

Consider this: The Kings might be able to enhance their roster with a valuable addition, just in time for the playoffs, and the defenseman would come with zero acquisition cost. Hello, Matt Greene. The Kings have been without the services of Greene this season with the exception of one game. Greene, who had back surgery in January, has resumed skating, and his projected return to the lineup is for late April, according to General Manager Dean Lombardi. Greene, who is not on this five-game trip with the Kings, skated for 15 minutes Thursday.

OKLAHOMA CITY - Did Dwight Howard rush back into the Lakers' lineup? He had back surgery last April, was traded to the Lakers in August and started his comeback by playing two exhibitions in October. He tried not to second-guess it Tuesday a few hours before his 55th regular-season game. "Looking back on it, I could have sat out the whole season until now and starting playing now, but I just felt like we had such a great opportunity," he said. "Some of these guys, their windows for winning are very small, and I just wanted to get back and try to do whatever I can to help this team, knowing that I wasn't in great shape.

Dwight Howard isn't Dwight Howard. He's not the dunk-tastic, shot-blocking force of energy under the basket that he used to be. But why? The Lakers center continues to point to back surgery last April to repair a herniated disk. "It's one of the biggest factors," Howard said after practice Saturday. "Coming off the injury, I only had four weeks to get ready for the season, which was training camp and then preseason. I didn't really have a chance to really get in good shape.

When Bob Forsch went to training camp this spring, he didn't even know if he would be playing in April. He was a 35-year-old pitcher who was coming off back surgery after the worst season in his 11-year career. Forsch pitched only 52 innings, won only two games and had an earned-run average of 6.02 in 1984. He had gone a long way downhill after helping the St. Louis Cardinals win the pennant in 1982 with 15 victories.

Pro wrestling legend Hulk Hogan has sued the Laser Spine Institute in Florida, saying surgeries done there on his back were useless and cost him millions of dollars in revenue. Hogan went to the Institute in 2009 to get treatment for scoliosis and bulging discs but the operations he received left him feeling worse, according to the wrestler. Hogan claims he eventually had to undergo major back surgery with a different set of doctors to repair his back. The allegedly botched surgeries caused Hogan to miss several employment opportunities in wrestling and acting that would have earned him at least $50 million, according to the wrestler.

The question posed to Coach Mike Brown before the Lakers' exhibition against Sacramento seemed simple, but he pretended he didn't understand. What, he was asked, can you tell us about Dwight starting? "Dwight who?" Brown said, a puzzled look creasing his face. That would be Dwight Howard, No.12 on your scorecard, six-time All-Star center, the guy supposedly destined to take ownership of a Lakers team that remains very much Kobe Bryant's but clearly needed a makeover after two straight second-round playoff exits.