How do you pick a back surgeon?
You have back pain and are miserable. Your Primary Care has sent you for an MRI and recommended you see a back surgeon. On your way home you notice (because hey, you’re looking for a back surgeon) billboards all over the place “free MRI reviews”, “have your surgery in one day and go back the […]
Cervical Instability
What is Cervical Instability? In this x-ray series, it demonstrates movement of the vertebral body of C6 on C7. On Flexion, the posterior corners of the vertebral bodies line up. But, with extension, there is a 4.3 mm movement of the C6 body posterior (towards the back) to the C7 body. The accepted criterion for […]
Pain and Infection after Spine Surgery
It is tough to be the adult in the room. Most people only want to hear about the benefits of spine surgery. Spine surgeons chuckle about the reactions some patients have about their outcomes. If there is a good outcome, it is a miracle, a religious experience, or luck. If the outcomes are poor, […]
What is Elective Spine Surgery?
People are often confused by the term Elective Spine Surgery. The most broad definition indicates a choice to pursue surgery. So let’s try to define it in a way that everyone can understand. Naturally, there may be some nuanced differences among some stakeholders of the definition. We will try to stay within the mainstream of […]
Surgery for Recurrent Disk Herniations
Unfortunately, even after successful lumbar discectomy surgery, there is between a 5% and 15% chance of a recurrent disk herniation at the same location. The reason is secondary to the nature, and size of the lumbar disk. Most disk herniations are pieces of annulus, endplate, and or nucleus elements of the disk. The fragments, however, are only […]
Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion Results
How are the Results for Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion? General consensus by most surgeons and patients report a 95%-98% success rate in terms of relief of arm pain. That statistic is very important for everyone to understand. Cervical Discectomy Surgery is successful for ARM PAIN. Unfortunately, that does not mean neck pain, or headaches. Just […]
