Carson Daly Recovers After Back Surgery, Optimistic About Future

Carson Daly is in good spirits and contemplating a “bright” future less than three weeks after undergoing a procedure to alleviate lower back pain.

“I feel really good,” the TODAY co-host said on the show during a live check in from his home on Thursday, Sept. 15.

“For anybody who suffers from lower back pain for decades, you don’t realize how much pain you’re in until it’s gone, so I feel very optimistic about the future.”

While he’s healing, Carson is using the bedroom on the ground floor of his house to avoid going up and down stairs, but he’s been staying active by walking.

“I’ve been walking a lot. I’m like Forrest Gump here on Long Island. I walk everywhere. Yesterday, I walked to New Jersey,” he joked. “I’m getting stronger… The problem is that I want to come back to work, but I can’t put my pants on or tie my shoes.”

He demonstrated using a “grabber” that allows him to pick things off the ground without bending his back for now.

Carson, 49, is recovering from an anterior lumbar interbody fusion (ALIF) that was performed on Aug. 30 at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. The surgery came after he said he’d tried “literally everything” — including physical therapy, yoga and massages — to get relief from pain that started after he injured his back in a 1997 snowmobile accident.

His discomfort had intensified in recent months.

As TODAY previously reported, Carson said he was unable to play golf, jump rope, jog, ride his Peloton, bend over deep, raise his knees to his chest or do any rotational activities. He also struggled with everyday movements like getting in and out of bed and his truck, putting his pants on and tying his shoes.

Carson underwent a noninvasive procedure called Intracept in June, in which a probe heats up the nerve root in the area that’s causing pain in order to prevent the nerve from sending pain signals to the brain. But it didn’t bring him the relief he needed.

So he decided to try the ALIF procedure, which “is a type of spinal fusion that utilizes an anterior (front — through the abdominal region) approach to fuse (mend) the lumbar spine bones together,” according to the University of Southern California Spine Center.

"It’s basically the exact same thing Tiger Woods had done to his back. So we’re pretty much the same guy," Carson joked.

The recovery time is estimated to be six to 12 weeks, and he said the fusion of bone takes six months to a year. The first week was "tough" because he had to get over the surgical pain, Carson recalled. But things are much better now.

"I feel really great about it. I’m healing," he said. "My future is bright now."

This article was originally published on TODAY.com