Kevin Nash to Undergo Minimally Invasive Procedure for Spinal Stenosis

WWE Hall of Famer Kevin Nash has been dealing with health issues for a very long time now and this includes his most recent shoulder injury. Nash has now confirmed he will undergo a minimally invasive procedure after his painful shoulder injury.

Kevin Nash recently revealed that he’s in a lot of pain because of a shoulder injury. Nash explained that the injury happened while he was using a Cybex row machine with 170 pounds on it. He was on his eighth or ninth rep when he felt and heard something pop in his shoulder.

“I can’t even sit on a fu**ing toilet I’m in so much pain. Stay tuned. I’ll definitely show up at an NXT taping if I’m not being operated on during that time because it looks like I’ve got to get my shoulder operated on. Something popped on my shoulder training on Tuesday… I was using a Cybex row machine. It stacks 200. I had 170 on it. I was on maybe rep eight or nine. I felt it and I heard something pop.”

While speaking on his Kliq This podcast, Kevin Nash explained that as he’s gotten older, he’s learned the importance of checking out injuries right away. Getting an MRI can help catch problems like partial tears before they turn into something worse, like a full tear that might need serious surgery. Recently, he went to the doctor for his shoulder where they found a bone spur and arthritis. The doctor said some scar tissue probably broke loose, which caused his pain. Surprisingly, once that happened, Nash noticed his shoulder pain improved, and he could move more freely.

Nash described the scar on his shoulder as looking rough, with bruises and a “shotgun-like” appearance, which he’s shown on Instagram. While it looks bad, he’s thankful it’s not causing major problems now. He plans to return to the gym soon but will take it easy by starting light, doing warm-ups, stretching, and icing to avoid further injury.

"What I have learned in my old age is that if you feel something's off, like an injury, you should get an MRI to have someone look at it because there's a real good chance you could have a partial tear, and if you keep going, it could turn into a full tear. Then, they have to hunt around and try to pull everything together. So I've learned to save it, so they can at least stem cell it and maybe avoid surgery. I went in today, and he went through everything. I asked him to show me my outside bicep tendon, which he did, and then I asked him to show me the inside. He showed me all my rotator cuffs and a pretty decent bone spur on the end of my humerus, which I didn’t find funny. He said that I have so much arthritis that what probably happened was there was an area of scar tissue that broke loose.

They had cut through cysts and bone spurs before, so when they did that, it may have split. I was actually having a hard time pulling up my shorts on my left side, but since this happened, the first day I got up, I pulled on my underwear and there was no pain in the back of my shoulder. I was like, 'What the heck?' It was actually freeing. I asked the doctor, ‘Does the opening of the scar cause internal bleeding?’ He said it’s healed so much that it wasn’t an issue. The scar tissue just opened up. If anyone has my Instagram, you can see the scar. It’s all black, blue, and purple, and it looks like someone shot a shotgun in my shoulder. But thank God it opened up, and now I’m good.

Tomorrow will be my first day back in the gym, but I’ll take it easy—about 40%, just warming up, stretching, and icing afterward. I got lucky. I was training heavy that day, doing a set of eight reps, which I never go low on. I knew something was off and thought, 'Man, I skated by.'"

Nash also had tests on his lower back and found out he has a pinched L3 nerve on his left side. The nerve is being squeezed by a calcium buildup called stenosis, which can also happen when discs in the spine lose space. To fix this, Nash is planning a minor surgery where doctors will remove the extra bone pressing on the nerve. He said the procedure is straightforward and done by a trusted surgeon.

"They also did an EMG test to check my nerve impulses by inserting needles and shooting an electric current down my leg. They found that my L3 nerve on the left side is pinched and not getting full impulse, but it will recover. It’s just that the stenosis—the bone growth on the nerve—has too much pressure since the disc herniated.

For those who don’t know, stenosis is calcium growth on the bone that juts out and hits a nerve, or it can close the holes in the vertebrae where nerves come out, which pinches them. If you lose a disc and have that bone growth, the pressure is too much. I talked to the spinal surgeon, and they’ll go in with a procedure the size of a McDonald’s straw to remove that bone growth. It’s a minimally invasive procedure where they’ll shave or grind the bone. Some surgeons use lasers for this, but I didn’t ask if that’s what he uses. I know the surgeon works with pro athletes, so I trust him."

After surgery, Kevin Nash will have six weeks of light activity and should fully recover in about three months. He hopes to be back to working out by mid-March to get in shape for the summer.

"After the surgery, I’ll be on minimal activity for six weeks, and after three months, I’ll have no restrictions. Since it’ll be winter, I’m planning to get the surgery done around mid-December, and by the time March rolls around, I’ll be able to get back into the gym. My goal is to be in shape for the summer, ready with my beach body. For the next few months, I won’t be doing any heavy lifting like bent-over rows, but I can still train."

Kevin Nash also revealed that he will be undergoing his third round of stem cell therapy. The WWE Hall of Famer is clearly focusing on his health before anything else and fans are hoping he will eventually become healthier than ever before following all of his upcoming procedures.

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What do you think about #KevinNash’s approach to recovery? Have you or anyone you know undergone a similar surgery, and how was the recovery process? Let us know in the comments.