BOSTON – Dennis Seidenberg couldn’t help but make a joke that back surgery was a big deal for him now that he’s a 34-year-old veteran with plenty of hard miles in his rearview mirror.
“That’s young, right?” said the German defenseman with a smile on his face.
Seidenberg spoke with the media on Monday for the first time since undergoing back surgery on a troublesome disc, and said the timeline remains eight weeks for his recovery from the 45-minute procedure. He also admitted that succumbing to the surgical knife is pretty annoying after working hard all summer to make sure he could bounce back from last year’s mediocre results less than a year removed from major knee surgery.
“It is annoying. What timing?” asked Seidenberg rhetorically. “You work out all summer, especially if it's a long summer like this. Then you get ready to get started, and suddenly you’re out for eight weeks. There’s nothing I can do right now except stay positive, and then go from there.
“It’s totally new. Everybody’s got back pains here or there, but I never had any spasms that kept me from doing anything. So it’s definitely something I was surprised about.”
Seidenberg said that his calf was the only area affected as the nerves in his back were deadening the muscle, and that he’s felt good walking and waking up the muscle since the successful surgery. Given how quickly the Bruins opted to move on surgery, Seidenberg is optimistic he’ll be back right on schedule a couple of months from now.
“Even before [surgery] sometimes people can have a hard time walking or sitting,” said Seidenberg, who added Chris Kelly had the same surgery after his nerve-affected muscles atrophied for six weeks prior to surgery. “I didn’t have any pain. My calf just wasn’t firing, so I couldn’t push off. But after surgery I was walking the same day, and trying to walk as much as possible to get the calf firing again. So far it’s been really good.”
Now Seidenberg does what comes most difficult for him: watching helplessly from the 9th floor press box during games as the young defense corps tries to piece it together for the Black and Gold without him until Thanksgiving-time.