Good Morning Spine

Archive for November, 2009

All pstients in my practice undergo combined team of physicians that has lowered the need for surgery to less then 5 percent of new patients with disc herneation or spinal stenosis.Dr Geisse is a fellowship trained neurologist that has recently joined our team. She has added a non-surgical pain management focus not just performing injection on every patient

We will be bringing updates on wellness from wellnesswise blog each week to help patients be more holistic not just your spine.

I wish all my patients a wonderful Thanksgiving and may their year be prosperous and their medical issues be much improved in coming days.Start early by eating smaller quanities and exercising 45 minutes each day.Moderation goes a long way in keeping your health on center stage and illness less of a distraction on living the life you have worked so hard to achieve!

When chosing a doctor look at his credentials on-line. Where did they attend medical school, board certification and re-recertification,published work,years in practice,technology updated such as digital x-Ray.services, insurance plans,and locations. The Internet allows easy access to this information.A google or yahoo search can also show a lot of current information.

Conditioning the spine will have the same preventative effect as a cardiac rehab program. Load bearing activities that increase heart rate also make the disc and vertebrae much less likely to deteriorate over time.Patients need to exercise 45 minutes 5 days per week and also maintain their weight. Taking pain meds and excessive injection are only short term solutions for back pain.

Many patients want non-surgical treatment as an option. We offer a variety of injections that place steroids near the nerve or joint in the spine that can have almost immediate effect on your pain. However, overuse of blocks can also lead to missing an opportunity to repair a nerve. The overuse of steroids can affect other organ systems in a negative way. Ask your doctor to explain this to you.

Yesterday, I operated on an 88 year old patient. It still amazes me me how well these senior oatients do if surgery is less then two hours. He is very active and actual healh very good so we proceeded with caution at his request. Using small implants is the key to stabilizing the spine for his very severe spinal stenosis. I believe age is not issue but returning back quality of life.

When you are considering surgery you want to have an understanding of all options and their published success rate.I have always used 80 percent as this the best numbers for success when you review the majority of articles on laminectony and fusion. I try to managed patients expectation explaining these surgeries will not make them perfect and that is why all proven options should be considered. However, when you consider improvement of this magnitude patients are very grateful.

I always try a combination of simple injections under fluro with medication as well as therapy for the vast majority of patients with spinal stenosis or disc rupture. Surgery should be the last resort unless there are serious symtoms such as weakness or loss of bowel or bladder control. Patients should know surgery is in the 5 percent range for most of my patients.

Patients should not be lured by self-serving claims about results without independent verification. I see so many cases of failure because the original surgery did not address the problem with a procedure that could have possibly worked. Ask your surgeon for all options and what their published success rate using any new technique. Find out if they are members of medical societies such as NASS or SMISS ?We all have failures but try to lower them to less then ten percent.