Carson Daly was back on the Today show Tuesday, seven weeks to the day hewent under the knife to help fix chronic back pain caused by a snowmobilingaccident decades prior.
Back in August, the broadcaster had what he called on Tuesday a “realhardcore” Anterior Lumbar Interbody Fusion surgery, in which an intervertebraldisc is removed and replaced with a bone or metal spacer.
“It worked,” Daly told colleagues Savannah Guthrie, Hoda Kotb, Al Roker andSheinelle Jones of the procedure Tuesday, noting that he would have been backin the studio last week but had to travel to Los Angeles to shoot The Voice.
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He went on to thank his Today family for all their support during hisabsence, adding that he was feeling “great” now. “I’m 18 again,” he joked.
“It’s been quite the recovery,” the father of four also said. “I had some timeto sit around and [rest]but it feels great.”
Still, Daly said “there’s a long road ahead” to him being 100%, explainingthat recovering from the pain is just the beginning.
“I hope I get a chance to do a story on it because what I realize now is it’slike the iceberg effect,” he said. “This just isn’t a story about people whohave back pain and how do you fix it; there’s a subtext underneath it allthat’s very complex that so many of us have to deal with.”
“When you’re in pain and you’re looking to just feel good, that changes yourrelationship with food and drink and your life,” he explained. “And then whenthey fix the pain, there are these other complex areas of your life that youneed to deal with and realign with. So when I say I’m getting better, I’mgetting better in a multitude of ways which is great; which is really great.”
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Part of his recovery process has been going on regular walks. “I’m the ForestGump of Long Island,” Daly said. “I walk everywhere.”
The avid golfer will be back on the course soon enough too. “I can chip andputt at 13 weeks so I’m still another 6 weeks out from that,” Daly noted,teasing that he was planning to follow in the footsteps of championship golferTiger Woods, who had the same spinal surgery in 2017.
“I’ll probably get condo in Augusta, Georgia first, start visiting, and thenI’ll start getting to the Masters in maybe 4 years.”
Carson Daly
Nathan Congleton/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty
Daly has long been open about suffering from chronic lower back pain. He firstbegan experiencing pain when he injured his back in an accident in the ’90s,resulting in a T12 compression fracture.
His pain steadily increased over the years until July, when he underwent hisfirst back surgery. Today cameras followed him before and after theoperation to document the experience for a segment on the show.
“I feel actually better and I’m glad that I did it,” he said not long afterthe procedure. “It’s not a cure-all but it was a step in my journey that Ithink is going to help.”
RELATED: Carson Daly Says He ‘s ‘Really Optimistic’ After Spine FusionSurgery: ‘My Future Is Bright Now’
Unfortunately, that procedure didn’t quite work out. So in August, Dalyunderwent an Anterior Lumbar Interbody Fusion back surgery at L5 S1.
“I feel really good,” Daly said of his progress during a September check-in on_Today_. “I feel really optimistic. I feel like, for anybody who suffered fromlower back pain for decades, you don’t realize how much pain you’re in untilit’s gone. So I feel very optimistic about the future… My future is brightnow!”
Carson Daly attends the 2022 NBCUniversal Upfront at Mandarin Oriental Hotelat Radio City Music Hall on May 16, 2022 in New York City.
Roy Rochlin/Getty Carson Daly
according to Today Daly’s accident happened while he was on location inAspen, CO while working for MTV.
“At the end of one of the days of shooting, I was on a snowmobile beingshuttled down by ski patrol, and we got into an accident,” Daly recalled. “Iwas knocked unconscious, and I kinda came to in the snow in a toboggan, reallycouldn’t feel anything below my legs, one of those really scary moments.”
At the time of the accident, doctors explained that his back was”structurally” unharmed and that pain management would be his only option.Because of a bad reaction to pain medication, Daly knew he would only use themas a “last resort.”
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At first, the pain he experienced from the accident was intermittent thoughgrew more severe as time went on, the outlet reported.
Daly — who shares children Jackson, Etta, London and Goldie with wife Siri —said the pain started to affect his relationship with his family as he wasunable to be as active with his children as he wanted . “I want to playgolf, I want to wrestle with my kids. I want to pick things up,” he said. “Iwant to be better.”