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 […]
The Cost of Healthcare in the USA
Healthcare expenses in the United States exceeds 17% of GDP and over $2.8 trillion in 2012. Yet the Physician fee component of that expense is only 8%. In this debate over how to control expenses, most of the focus seems to be on curbing the Physician fee. WHY? Should we not focus on […]
Update on Adjacent Segment Degeneration
There remains considerable controversy on the nature of Adjacent Segment Degeneration after lumbar fusion. To the non-spine surgeons, the issue is the theory that a fusion operation places more stress on the levels above or below the fusion, and will lead to accelerated degeneration and subsequent surgery. In fact, most surgeons will tell patients about […]
Spine Arthritis
Spine Arthritis has many forms. The most common is secondary to the natural aging process. While there are many scientific studies on why we get arthritis, we have to accept the fact that our bodies are programmed to degenerate over time. All things wear out over time. The human body does have an amazing ability […]
The MRI and Myelopathy
Lately, I have seen a few patients that have been told they had Myelopathy. After evaluating them, I was certain that they have been misinformed about the nature of Myelopathy. In the most simplest definition, Myelopathy means irritation or damage to the spinal cord. The confusion is secondary to the definition of irritation or damage […]
How much Chiropractic Care is Reasonable?
This is a very common question asked by my patients. In the past, I could only suggest the patient speak to the Chiropractor and discuss the costs versus the benefits. There has been some information collected and discussed by the RAND Corporation in the early 1990’s. Recommendations of Chiropractic treatments varied between 1-5 visits a […]
