Slipknot guitarist Jim Root underwent spinal disk replacement surgery back in October, and he's happy to report that he's doing pretty well! Root says he tried to avoid the surgery as long as possible, but an MRI revealed that his back problems and arm numbness pretty much warranted surgery immediately. His story about the explanation of the surgery is actually pretty funny, considering it seems like Root's main concern was all about headbanging!
Root says the surgery is similar to ones undergone by frontman Corey Taylor and Slayer's Kerry King. Here's what he had to say via The Jasta Show.
"And he was, like, 'Well, you have to do it, because you've got two blown-out disks in your neck. We need to replace C5 through C7 in your neck. It's causing nerve damage, and the longer you let it go, the nerve damage could become permanent.' Then that gives me anxiety and I start freaking out about it. But even more than that, I'm, like, 'Does that mean I'm not gonna be able to bang my head anymore?' 'Cause, I mean, it's muscle memory. After seventeen years-plus of playing guitar a certain way on stage, it's hard to not do that.
So especially right after that tour, I had to kind of rethink the way I was on stage, but hopefully it'll get to the point where I'll be able to do that again. They didn't infuse [the disks]; they actually replaced them. I had it about two or three months ago, and it's kind of been bugging me just where the surgery actually was. And there's still a little bit of pain in my nerves, 'cause he said now my nerves are swollen and the paths that they go through, through my bones and vertebrae, it's gonna hurt for a while. But pretty much I'd say I'm ninety percent now."
So of course w wish Root a furthered and successful recovery, but the dude sounds like he's doing pretty well.
