Minimally Invasive Procedures

Why You Don’t Need Shoulder Separation Surgery

On this page: What is the AC joint? What happens in an AC joint separation? What does an AC joint separation feel like? Is shoulder separation surgery necessary? New research on surgery for AC joint dislocation When I was in medical school, I crashed a motorcycle and separated my shoulder. I was told back then…read more

CCJ Instability: Rectus Capitis Posterior Minor and the Myodural Bridge

One of the more amazing things experienced during my medical career has been that smart physicians and scientists keep finding out brand new things about the body we didn’t know. One of those discoveries that have happened in the last 15 years is that a tiny muscle that lives at the base of the skull…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

Gastrocnemius Recession Review: Should You Get This Invasive Surgery?

In this article: Overview PRP research on Achilles tendinopathy PRP injection for heel pain Research on gastrocnemius recession I have a list of surgeries that I classify as something like “They did what to you?” One of those is called gastrocnemius recession, a procedure that is increasingly being used to treat heel pain. Recently, a…read more

Interdigital Wasting in Seattle Fixed with Platelet Lysate

We all seem to take our feet for granted. I know I do. However, this is where our body meets the ground, and, consequently, they’re pretty important. Since you likely don’t notice your feet, you may be surprised to learn that there are muscles that live there. As we age, some of us will lose…read more

New Research: Your Achilles Tendon Is an Efficient and Twisted Mess

As a physician, like every other doctor, I was taught that the Achilles was the biggest single tendon in the human body. The first day of medical school I was also told that half of everything they would teach me would eventually be proven wrong. So this past week, researchers added yet another thing that…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