To Eric Trees, Dr. Anthony N. Pannozzo is almost too good to be true. How could a local doctor take away such agonizing pain in only a matter of minutes by focusing on mobility, instead of strength, and correcting abnormal physiology instead of diagnosing dysfunction?
Trees, a
resident, explained why he had to visit Pannozzo, based out of 16244 Military Trail, Suite 740 in
.
“I had back problems,” said Trees, 35. “I was in a car accident on Sept. 11, 2008 and I ended up blowing out the three lower discs in my back. After 14 months of intense physical therapy, along with epidurals and surgery, I had to try something new.”
An avid golfer, Trees continued to play the sport he loves, despite the unstoppable pain. At one point, the television producer of 21st Century Business in
decided enough was enough.
“It was like a job trying to get out of bed,” said Trees, who runs his educational show weekly on CNBC and the Fox Business Network. “It hurt on my through swing and basically the entire time I was playing golf. Once I met Anthony, we went through the meet and greet process, and he was very matter of fact. He knew what to do.”
Pannozzo, who specializes in all sports injuries, including golf, tennis and equestrian, focuses on improving each patient’s game. With Trees, Pannozzo discussed the examination process.
“We went over the pain centers and I asked him to be more specific than just the lower back,” said Pannozzo, 72. “Every referral pattern means something. His legs were okay, but he had some buttock pain. His rotations were limited, according to his history, so I told him he had to take these shots.”
When Trees gave Pannozzo two-thumbs up for the “anti-inflammatory” procedure, the former professional golfer who attended Western High School in Davie and Valdosta State University in Georgia felt like a new person.
“The pain in my back stopped on the day I met him,” said Trees, who shot a 65 just a few days later on the 6,580-yard, par 71 course at the Carolina Club in Margate. “It changed my life. I told him what was bothering me and he fixed it. Of course, I’m going to remember some details. I appreciate everything he’s done.”
For Pannozzo, whose son-Dr. Paul Pannozzo, M.D., follows the same practice in Arizona-the secret for getting rid of the pain is why and where.
“It’s a scientific plan,” he said. “You can’t be a good golfer without a good mind and body. We give a special examination that is designed to take a look at the ligament structure of each person’s body. It’s all based on anatomy.”
Steve Bourbon knows all about it. The current head golf pro on the Hawk Pointe Golf Course in Washington, N.J. went through seven years of back pain before meeting Pannozzo.
“I did everything but go to a Shaman,” said Bourbon, who moved down to the area in 1998 from Pennsylvania. “I went to physical therapy, had an acupuncture, saw a chiropractor, did all that. At the time, I was looking for a golf instructor that could get rid of all the bad habits.”
Two years later, Bourbon met the legendary golf instructor Bob Toski, whom he called “the Tiger Woods of teaching”. By working with Toski, Bourbon eventually met Pannozzo at Toski’s golf teaching center in Coconut Creek in 2007. The Hawk Pointe golf pro couldn’t wait to tell the doctor his story.
“At that point, I was desperate,” Bourbon said. “I’ve done everything else with my back and nothing else works. [Pannozzo] basically said ‘I can fix it’. I get treated and afterward it felt like I got touched by the hand of God. This man came up with the cure for cancer of the golf swing.”
From Bourbon’s perspective, even Toski was amazed at what Pannozzo accomplished.
“I was hitting the ball so hard that I couldn’t find the ball,” said Bourbon. “I’m trying to explain what he did. One day, Toski tells Doc that ‘You did in 20 minutes what I couldn’t do in five years’. For me, it was the shot heard round the world. It’s an absolute fact. Age has nothing to do with it.”
Next year, Pannozzo and Toski plan to team up and open their own golf training facility that focuses on removing a golfer’s pain to increase mobility and allow each golf professional the ability to create a better swing. The school, which will be called the Toski Medical Golf Academy, is designed to create better golf students and better teachers because it will take the pain out of the golf swing.
Pannozzo can’t wait.
“In order to be a good golfer, you need all your elements for the game to be in place,” he said. “There’s a physiology for how it all works. It’s right out of the book.”
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