Conservative Care

Should We Be Cementing Fractured Back Bones?

This is an interesting blog for me to write. On the one hand, I have colleagues that perform vertebroplasty to treat thoracic compression fractures and say that it can be amazing, older people get rolled in and walk out. On the other hand, the idea of bone cement, an artificial substance to glue bones back…read more

Are You a Product of Genetics or Your Environment?

I have fraternal twins, so I got to watch firsthand how genetics can shape a kid. My boy is night-and-day different from his sister and he always has been, despite our best efforts to raise them the same. However, others would argue that environment often trumps genetics. So which is it? Genetics vs. Environment Genetics…read more

Don’t Expect to Toss the Opioids After Spinal Fusion

Most patients I speak to who are contemplating a spinal fusion for low back pain believe that their pain will be solved and that they will be able to stop using narcotics. However, what if that wasn’t remotely true? Would they still sign up for this invasive and potentially dangerous surgical procedure? New research suggests…read more

Real Surgery No Better than Fake Surgery for Tennis Elbow?

This is yet another in my ongoing series showing that most elective orthopedic surgery is useless. Meaning that while most of the American public with an injury and pain believe that they are just one surgery away from “fixing” their problem, the research on orthopedic surgery procedures continues to show that for the most part, it’s…read more

RIP Hip Impingement Surgery?

OK, let’s be honest here. The research base behind the world’s most common orthopedic surgical procedures is blowing up or, more accurately, falling down. It’s been an absolutely awful run for common procedures like knee debridement, meniscectomy, rotator cuff repair, and other common surgeries that make up many billions in annual healthcare spending in the U.S. Frankly,…read more

Piriformis Injection: What Your Doctor Won’t Tell You

It’s hard for both physicians and patients alike to understand the intense complexity of the connected body. It’s easier to come up with a description for one part that hurts and call it good. I call this “parting it out,” and this is definitely the case with a piriformis injection. Even though there are likely…read more

Is Nonsurgical Treatment for Rotator Cuff Tears a Long-Term Solution?

In today’s modern world, if you’re middle-aged and feel a sudden stabbing pain in your shoulder and then it continues to ache, you get an MRI. If that shoulder study shows a big enough rotator cuff tear, you’re quickly spirited off to surgery. However, what would happen if you never had the surgery? Would it…read more

A Jiu-Jitsu Toe Injury in a Physician That Turned into Mild Arthritis: How We Fixed It…

We have always treated a very high number of medical providers, like doctors, nurses, and physical therapists. Why? Physicians and other health professionals dig a bit deeper than others when looking at new technologies, and there’s simply much more under the “Regenexx Hood” than any other clinic using stem cells to treat orthopedic injury. Case…read more