My surgical decision-making dramatically changed over the last five years of my practice. In spite of watching so many successes of people healing from chronic pain without surgery, I still had a surgical mindset and was always looking for a surgical lesion that I could “fix”. In the first edition … Read More
Roy Carey, a well respected spinal surgeon in Melbourne created this video highlighting the decision-making about undergoing spine surgery. It helped reduce the frequency of spinal surgery in Victoria, New Zealand.
I discuss the cultural belief system about spine surgery and it’s impact on the treatment for chronic pain. It took me years to understand that performing fusions for LBP is based on unsubstantiated belief rather than hard data. I thought that surgery could always alleviate pain and felt I had an … Read More
I discuss the lack of awareness to the alternative approaches in the spine surgeon world and the treatment of chronic pain. We are both not being trained in the correct and effective approach, but also ignoring well-established data. (1) Young AK, et al. “Assessment of presurgical psychological screening in … Read More
What percentage of success would you want from your potential surgery on your lower back before you decided to proceed with a major surgical intervention such as a back fusion or artificial disc? Most of my patients feel that they would like a greater than 75% chance of significantly decreasing … Read More
In order for a surgery to go right the first time, you need an idea of when spine surgery is appropriate and at what level of complexity. There is not an operation that is effective for non-specific low back pain. For the most part then, spine surgery for lower back pain … Read More
Imagine your life before the pain. Stop and visualize a day or period back then when you were just plain angry. What kind of a day was it? It wasn’t great. Now add the pain back into the picture and what you have – living hell. One of the byproducts … Read More