EJ Obiena Killed Some Nerves in His Spine. And Then They Grew Back

Twelve days before the Olympics, Filipino pole vaulter EJ Obiena removed a cryptic post on Facebook, which made people worry about the athlete. 

During a press conference on August 7, Obiena revealed it was because of a medical condition he has been struggling with. To address the condition, Obiena had to undergo a medical procedure just days before the Paris 2024 Olympics.

“What EJ went through in the 10 days leading up to the Olympic games is quite a shock,” said James Michael Lafferty, Obiena’s life coach. 

“He has had an occurring issue on the lumbar part of his spine where he’s had some issues in the connective tissue, muscle spasms, pain, and the inability to vault,” Lafferty revealed about Obiena’s current situation. 

Days before Obiena competed in the 2024 Olympics, he underwent denervation or rhizolysis, a medical procedure that inhibits nerves from firing pain signals. It is a temporary pain relief.  It can be done by heating the nerves with an electrical current using a special device, removing the nerves responsible for transmitting the pain signals. 

Obiena had been experiencing painful spasms after his jumps, immobilizing him for minutes, prompting the athlete to undertake his first denervation procedure in 2022. But the pain nerves in his spine have since grown back. 

When asked to clarify about his injury, EJ said that it was a facet problem in his spine. The injury is between the L4 and L5 of his spine, but is spread through multiple joints and sensory nerves that restrict his movements. 

“This has been recurring this season quite a bit. I was in the U.S. when it first started. If you watched closely in the competition in LA, every time I walked out of the pit, I was very slow.” 

“I can’t move right away after I jump. It spasms, it locks up, and sometimes it doesn’t relax and sometimes it does,” Obiena sighed and addressed how he wished there were signals in his body about the situation. 

That was why Obiena had to undergo denervation. 

“The denervation was done in 2022. The nerve does grow back and, unfortunately, it grew back at a rate where he started to feel everything again here in 2024. So this whole season has been [a] great inconsistency and having to take days off and having to take medications. 10 days before or 12 days before the Olympic games, it got so bad that he was unable to vault, and he couldn’t even run with the pole.”

Obiena’s team searched for a neurosurgeon in France to administer another denervation procedure. But no doctor in France would take the risk of doing the procedure, so Obiena had to go to Italy to get the procedure done. 

According to Obiena, also shared that if it wasn’t for the Olympics, he probably wouldn’t have done denervation and focused instead on recovery. “It is the Olympics–it’s the biggest sporting stage.” 

The procedure was done 10 days before the Olympic games, and EJ needed a 48-hour recovery period before gradually getting back into vaulting. “The fact that he competed is amazing. The fact that he came in fourth is beyond amazing,” said Lafferty.  

Despite the challenges, Obiena doesn’t want to make excuses for the results of the Olympic games. 

“That’s the reality of it, but I don’t use that to say ‘Okay, that’s why the outcome was short of a medal.’ l believe I’m still fully capable of doing it, I still believe I’m fully capable of winning that.”

“That’s what makes it [even more painful] is that I was that close. All things considered, I was that close,” Obiena said.

However, EJ believed that his injury did not hinder his performance in the Olympics stage. +

“I don’t think it hindered me to perform. At least on the day of the Paris Olympics, I don’t think it hindered me to perform. If I’m analyzing everything without any emotion and just pure reality of things, I think it did affect me, but not on the competition day. It affected my preparation going in, it affected my consistency, it affected my overall program going into Paris.”

Obiena said he could not find the right words to express his feelings, but that he feels very blessed and proud to be able to represent such a nation, such a country that gave him all the values and culture that he needed as a pole vaulter. 

Obiena and Lafferty thanked everyone who came to the press conference. Despite the challenges and struggles that EJ has faced, he maintained his kind and generous attitude to the Filipino community and his pole vaulting peers.