Dramatic Improvement in Severely Degenerated Cervical Joint Without Surgery

I’ve spent the last 12 years staring at MRIs before and after orthopedic stem cell treatments. I’ve seen some incredible things in many conditions and some MRIs that didn’t change. This past week, as I reviewed the MRI of a patient with a severely degenerated cervical facet joint that we had treated at our licensed facility…read more

Why Do I Have Pain with Yoga, and What Can I Do About It?

You may be one of the millions who swear by the physical and mental benefits of yoga, and maybe you’ve even enjoyed the bonus of pain relief from the practice. Yoga is a vast and ancient India-originated discipline with many styles and techniques, each featuring physical, spiritual, and meditative elements. However, I’ve noticed through the…read more

Should You Get Your Disc Injected with Stem Cells?

It seems to be the latest craze; all the cool providers, most after taking a weekend course, are doing it. So should you get your disc injected with stem cells? The question certainly seems simple enough; however, the answer is a bit more complex. This isn’t a new fad for us. We were the first…read more

Neck Fusion Side Effects in the Low Back?

While it seems common sense that all the parts of our spine are connected, because of orthopedic hyperspecialization, most patients believe that their necks and their backs are separate areas. After all, they have different names. Adding to the long list of neck fusion side effects, a new study shows just how wrong they are…read more

Reports of the Death of the C1–C2 Facet Injection Have Been Greatly Exaggerated

In 1897, Mark Twain was on a speaking tour in London when an American newspaper started a rumor that he was gravely ill. This was soon followed by an obituary. When asked by an American reporter in London about his death, Twain quipped, “The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.” I feel the same…read more

Disc Replacement Side Effects: New Research Is Concerning

The whole idea behind disc replacement is that it should have fewer side effects than fusing the spine. The artificial disc allows motion, which is, in theory, similar to a normal biologic disc. However, what if an artificial disc ended up distorting normal motion so badly that it still caused the disc above and below…read more

Cervical Disc Replacement Complications: Metal Ions

We ended the 20th century with the idea that we could cut out parts of a person, like a joint or a disc, and insert metal and achieve great things. Then reality got in the way, in that studies began to show that these metal or plastic or ceramic parts wear down and those particles…read more

The Spine Owner’s Manual Now on Kindle!

We released my new book, The Spine Owner’s Manual, to Kindle this week, and made it free for this first week as an incentive to read it. Why a Manual? The word “manual” is important as, like all manuals, it explains what something is, how it works, what can go wrong, and how to fix…read more