Rohanna on the mend with neck injury
Rachel Rohanna worked her way into the top 40 of the Symetra Tour money list and was looking to make a big push for the top 10 as the tour worked its way into the Midwest for the summer.
That was until her health gave way as she prepared to tee off last week in the FireKeepers Casino Hotel Championship in Battle Creek, Mich.
“It’s the same old thing. I stretch my neck, I spasm up and it locks up,” explained Rohanna. “It was before I was to tee off. I heard my neck crack. I had that big pinchy, lock up feeling.”
The only positive about the spasms is they occurred before she teed off, so she was able to get her entry fee returned.
Though the recurrence of the injury is disconcerting, the location has Rohanna a bit concerned.
“It’s on the right side. It’s usually the left,” said Rohanna. “I couldn’t walk more than 80 yards. It felt like my head was going to fall off.
“I can deal with the pain, but there was no point in pushing it.”
Pain in another part of her body might’ve been a sign of what was to come.
“My knee felt out of place. I felt a pinching in the joint,” said Rohanna.
Rohanna withdrew from last week’s tournament in Michigan and this weekend’s tournament in Decatur, Ill. She plans to return next week when the Symetra Tour makes a stop in South Bend, Ind., for the Four Winds Invitational, but not after taking a detour through northern Ohio.
“I’m going to the Cleveland Clinic. I’m bringing my X-rays and MRIs and have them look over all of it thoroughly. I’ll probably hear things I’ve heard over the years,” said Rohanna.
What has she been told over the years?
“I have lax ligaments; they’re overstretched. Everything looks completely normal except for my ligaments stretch. The muscles chronically spasm to keep the ligaments in place. The vertebrae pops out of place at the base of my skull. The cervical spine sends a shock through my whole head. It’s hard for me to drive (an automobile) when this happens.”
She has an idea what she might be told.
“They’ll probably suggest the same thing. Physical therapy and go to the chiropractor twice a week,” said Rohanna. “I was either born that way or it was an injury. There’s nothing we can do.”
There is one course of treatment she hasn’t been told, but wandered aloud if it might not be the way to go.
“Let’s do surgery and you’ll recover in a couple months. (No doctor) would say that,” said Rohanna. “Cortisone shots are so close to my head doctors don’t feel comfortable giving them.”
Given the torque of a golf swing and the repetitive nature of the sport, irritation and injury to joints is common.
“The constant wear and tear on top of a couple car accidents the past couple years, I have a 70-year-old neck,” Rohanna said with a chuckle. “Injury to the neck is very common for golf.
“I’m only 23 years old. Everyone else (on tour) has some kind of ailment you get when you’re in your 40s or 50s. Normal people don’t do (what I do).
“It’s difficult to fall asleep at night. Once I get to sleep, I’m okay, but it takes a long time for me to wake up.”
The pain from the injury affected more than her health, but also her golf game as she prepared to make a push up the money list. Rohanna was 39th going into last week’s tournament, but slipped to 43rd and will likely slide a couple places more after this weekend.
“It affected my golf game. It’s so frustrating. I was playing so well,” said Rohanna. “(The layoff) puts pressure on me for the rest of the season. Good thing I feel I’ve been playing better under pressure.
“The most important thing is to get feeling healthy.”