Texas surgeon makes shocking comments in court about the health of NHL players.

The National Hockey League has been involved in some legal controversy when it comes to head injuries in the league, but it may very well be that players will soon have a case to make about the long term health of their spines as well if the comments from one surgeon are to be taken at face value.

In a recent court deposition, Texas based Orthopedic surgeon Dr. Jacob Weinberg made what I can only describe as shocking statements when it comes to the health of players in the NHL that he has examined. Specifically, Dr. Weinberg referenced his time working with the Boston Bruins hockey team and stated that he had witnessed serious issues when it comes to the spines of professional hockey players. The issues were so bad in fact that Dr. Weinberg compared the spines of the players to those he would normally expect to see in his elderly patients, not young men in their 20s.

Unedited from the deposition:

I can tell you of a couple of people I know who had this type of operation at the age of 30. Again, a lot depends on the activity level that you had as a young person. A lot depends on your genetics.

I think the best example is when I was a fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital. We took care of the Boston Bruins, which is the hockey team --professional hockey team. And I will tell you, looking at MRI’s of -- of professional hockey players in their mid twenties, they had the most advanced degenerative disc disease that you could possibly imagine a person in their mid twenties whose function -- had a functional spine of somebody who is their seventies or eighties based on their level of activity.

Q. Okay. Degeneration usually, though, isn’t painful, right?

A. It usually results in pain.

These sound like some rather serious issues to say the least and it really does put into perspective the kind of sacrifices many of the players we watch on a nightly basis make in order to play the sport at the highest possible level. Of course it is important to note that none of the players are being forced to play in the NHL and they are all grown men making their own decisions, and being compensated millions of dollars for doing so, but degenerative back problems are no joke and will no doubt severely hamper the ability of many players to live normal lives after they are done with the sport of professional hockey.