Spine Surgery Information on the Internet
How do you know the Spine Surgery information on the internet is true? Unfortunately, it can be difficult to know. The internet is a wonderful result of much scientific effort. Prior to its existence, information was controlled by governments, publishing entities and media conglomerates. By virtue of the costs, very few could disseminate information […]
Different Spine Surgery Recommendations
In the October 2014 Spine Journal, there was a fascinating Study presented by Dr. Mroz of the Cleveland Clinic regarding “Differences in the surgical treatment of recurrent lumbar disk herniation among spine surgeon in the United States”. The study identified significant differences among US spine surgeons, regarding the use of Lumbar spinal fusion in combination […]
The Framingham Spinal Stenosis Study
Most people know about the Famous Framingham Heart Study. The study followed a group of volunteers from Framingham Massachusetts for an extended period of time. The first group of 5209 volunteers were 30-60 year old men and women enrolled in the study from 1948. All sorts of measures were documented. In 1971, 5124 children of […]
Patients can determine Spine Surgery Results
YOU can make a difference in your SPINE SURGERY results! While patients often will look towards the skill of the surgeon, there are other important factors that will determine the outcome. Following post operative instructions can have a significant effect on the outcome. YOU can improve your SPINE SURGERY OUTCOMES by listening to your SURGEON. […]
Prolotherapy and Spine Pain
As a Spine Specialist, there are times when our traditional treatments just have not been beneficial. In my opinion, as a surgeon, the patients with the very large disk herniations, and with the corresponding physical complaints and findings are the easiest to treat. Epidural steriod injections are often beneficial. For these patients, surgical management is […]
Depression and Spine Surgery
Unfortunately, there is a bit of the “chicken or the egg” analogy in terms of the association of depression and chronic pain. By definition (NIH) chronic pain is a continuous constant pain that is more than three months in duration. Pain, in the acute setting, is a very important response. While not pleasant (understatement, […]
Lumbar Fusion Adjacent Level Disease
In the July 2004 Edition of the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, Dr. Ghiselli et al performed a retrospective review on patients that had undergone lumbar fusions by primarily by the Late Dr. Edgar Dawson, distinguished professor and spine surgeon affliated with UCLA. The goal was to establish the rate of developing symptomatic adjacent […]
Breast Reduction Surgery for Back Pain
Big Breasts can cause back pain! This is obviously a sensitive topic, but a common one discussed in many spine surgeon’s offices. Just so it is clear, spine surgeons do NOT perform Breast Reduction Surgery. We, however, are asked if the large sized breasts are the source of neck and or upper back pain. Breast […]
Percutaneous Discectomy
What is Percutaneous Discectomy? Just the words themselves seem intimidating. But, in the most basic form, it means a large bore needle is placed into the disk, and either a suction device, or a disc vaporization device is used to remove disk material from the end of the needle. usually, a very small incision, or […]
The Advantages of Cervical Foraminotomy
I am assuming you have already had the discussion about the need for a neck surgery for a pinched nerve in the neck. Let us assume you have already failed the standard non-surgical treatments including time, medications, therapy and injections. Let us further assume certain diagnostic tests have isolated the pinched nerves to a specific […]
