Why Does Elon Musk Have a Neck Scar? Surgery History Explained

Why Does Elon Musk Have a Neck Scar? Surgery History Explained

As a longtime admirer of Elon Musk, I must say his resilience and tenacity never cease to amaze me. His neck scar, a testament to his daring spirit and adventurous nature, is just one more chapter in the extraordinary saga that is his life. From launching rockets into space to revolutionizing electric vehicles, Musk’s accomplishments are countless, but it’s tales like these that make him truly human.


There’s much curiosity about the scar on Elon Musk’s neck that he still bears today. In a recently published book, Musk revealed the details of his neck injury and the surgical procedure he chose. However, despite this operation, the impact and pain from the injury continue to linger until now. Thus, let me explain what happened to Musk’s neck and the type of surgery he underwent.

Here’s everything you need to know.

Why Elon Musk has a neck scar

Elon Musk’s neck scar resulted from an injury sustained during a fight at his Japanese-themed birthday party in 2013, as detailed in Walter Isaacson’s book about him. At this celebration held at a castle in Tarrytown, New York, Talulah Riley, his then-wife, arranged a sumo wrestling match for Musk’s 42nd birthday. In this contest, Musk, dressed as a samurai, faced off against a 350-pound sumo wrestler. During their bout, Musk attempted a judo throw, which unfortunately led to an injury in his neck due to a damaged disc.

He detailed the incident in the book, stating, “I attacked him forcefully with a judo throw as I suspected he was being lenient. I wanted to test if I could toss this man, and I succeeded. However, in the process, I strained a disc at the lower end of my neck which resulted in intense back and neck pain. This injury necessitated surgeries, as reported by New York Post.

What surgeries has Elon Musk had?

In total, Elon Musk had three surgeries to correct an issue with his C5-C6 vertebral disc, one of which may have been a disc replacement. Earlier, Musk had mentioned he might undergo an MRI followed by surgery, but this plan didn’t materialize in terms of his arranged match with Zuckerberg. In the end, Zuckerberg stated that Elon wasn’t being serious about the match and it was time to move forward.

Regarding Musk’s other surgical procedure, he hasn’t provided details, but he did disclose his choice for disc replacement surgery. On a social media platform (previously Twitter), he advised people dealing with persistent back and neck pain to consider this operation. Furthermore, he highlighted the success of the surgery in alleviating his own pain significantly. In his words, “It’s a game-changer. It lowered my pain level from 7 to 9 out of 10 to 1 to 4.

Read More

Sorry. No data so far.

2024-10-08 15:40