Chronic pain

Does Our Gut Microbiome Adapt to Food Preservatives?

All of us are paying closer attention to the food we eat, where it’s sourced, what’s in it, and how it’s made. Additives and preservatives are something we rarely think about as they seem to be invisible. There’s also incredible attention being paid to the bacteria in our gut (microbiome). However, can the additives in…read more

What Causes Tightness in the Side of the Neck?

On this page: Tight scalene muscles Scalenes compensating for other muscles Ways to treat tightness in the side of the neck I’ve already told you about my left upper trap; now meet my left scalene. When I lift too much, these muscles, which live on the side of the neck, get tight. Tight Scalene Muscles…read more

Fusion Surgery No Better than No Surgery

Does fusion surgery work? I have blogged before about the research showing that this surgery is often no better in the long-run than no surgery. However, I’ve also pointed out that surgeons have a way of interpreting data in studies that benefit their preconceived notions of efficacy. Today’s blog is about one such study which…read more

Why a Normal MRI Report May Be an Increasingly Dangerous Thing…

We see patients every day who have normal MRI’s and pain and patients who have abnormal MRI’s and little pain. I’ve blogged about this extensively. Given that, for orthopedic imaging, a well-trained and observant physician can usually find more than the reading radiologist and also knows where to look, reading the MRI personally is a…read more

Our New C0–C1 Facet Injection Paper

This past decade, a big change has occurred in neck facet-joint treatment. The art of injecting something into a facet joint has become slowly extinct, while the procedures to perform nerve ablation of painful neck joints have ramped up. This has caused a real problem as newer regenerative-medicine techniques involving stem cells and platelet rich…read more

Let’s Take a Look at a Facet Cyst Treatment

It’s amazing how a pea-sized facet cyst pressing on a nerve can cause a great deal of havoc. Those who have this problem know the symptoms can be disabling, and yet for some patients, it causes no symptoms at all. If it’s the former, surgery has likely been offered, but let’s explore facet cyst treatment…read more

An Update on Our Novel Alar and Transverse Ligament Injection Procedure

Way back when my career was just starting, I got a job with a physician who was involved in auto-accident managed care. This meant that there was a steady stream of neck-injured patients. While many of these patients could be helped, some couldn’t. While it would be attractive to say that these few had psychological…read more

Chronic Pelvic Pain Is in the Nerves and Changes the Brain

Patients in chronic pain have always had it rougher than patients with a disability you can see. If we see a patient who has lost a limb or can’t walk due to paralysis, we all understand that these patients are disabled. However, a patient who just has chronic pain has an invisible disability. That is,…read more