Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles manager Senichi Hoshino, who is taking time off due to lower back pain, has been diagnosed with a lumbar herniated disk and a serious disease that causes compression of the spinal nerve roots, the team announced on Tuesday.
The ailment Hoshino, 67, suffers from affects his thoracic vertebrae and is known medically as ossification of the ligamentum flavum. This condition has resulted in the hardening of the ligaments near his spine.
Eagles team president Yozo Tachibana, answering reporters' questions Tuesday at the team's training facility in Tokyo, said, "The manager's health is paramount. I would like for him to return when he is healthy."