Stem-cell treatments aid Nicklaus

For more than 20 minutes Tuesday afternoon, Jack Nicklaus stood and held court with the media after hosting the Legends Luncheon fundraiser.

That was twice as long as Nicklaus said he could have stayed on his feet a couple of years ago. But in 2016, Nicklaus underwent an innovative stem-cell therapy procedure in Germany that relieved the back pain that he had fought throughout his legendary golf career.

On Saturday, he had the procedure done again in Munich, this time to alleviate shoulder pain from rotator cuff injuries. Nicklaus revealed the 2016 procedure to CNN last week and expounded on it Tuesday at the Ohio Union.

“I had my neck and lower back done two years ago,” Nicklaus said. “I couldn’t stand here like this two years ago for 10 minutes. I don’t hurt hitting a golf ball anymore. I don’t hurt hitting a tennis ball anymore, which is why I went over there to do that (second procedure).”

Nicklaus said the therapy involved removing about a pound of adipose fat from his stomach. The doctor then used an enzyme to extract stem cells from the fat before re-injecting them back into his body.

“They stuck me in 27 places,” Nicklaus said. “Stem cells are an amazing thing.”

Nicklaus said he was kept in the hospital in Munich overnight but played five holes of golf the next day. He flew back to the U.S. and attended a banquet in Athens, Georgia, on Monday.

On Tuesday, he hosted the Legends Luncheon, which raised a record $1.25 million for the Nicklaus Children’s Health Care Foundation and Nationwide Children’s Hospital. The luncheon is start of the run-up to the Memorial Tournament, which is a month away.

“To have the whole community be involved and want to be involved, you’ve got to have a cause,” Nicklaus said, “and the cause in this case is kids. It’s pretty hard to turn down kids.”