Nerve Conditions

Nerve Damage After Surgery: What Are Your Treatment Options?

In this article: Overview Diagnosis Recovery time Treatments Nerve damage patients’ stories One of the biggest issues we see after surgery is scarring around the nerves (1). The most common symptoms of nerve damage after surgery are usually numbness, tingling, burning, muscle weakness or atrophy. Many times the symptoms are temporary, for example, many patients…read more

Learning How Best to Inject the CCJ Ligaments: Our CCJ Instability Trial Begins…

Last week, we began the world’s first randomized controlled placebo trial to treat craniocervical junction (CCJ) instability. While our clinic has been treating these patients for more than two decades, these past few years, we have developed a new injection technique to finally begin addressing the problem in ways that existing care can not. Let me…read more

Leg Muscle Wasting as You Age? Check Your Low Back Nerves

Have you ever noticed that thinner older people have flatter butts and skinnier legs compared to young people? According to new research, this isn’t just your imagination, but a real physiologic effect of aging. One that again shows us how much the nerve supply of the low back impacts our legs without us knowing it’s…read more

We Should Never Be Proud of MRIs That Show Holes Burned in Patient’s Bodies…

A new study was recently published on a new treatment for back pain due to degenerative discs. Ordinarily, I would be excited, as what’s not to like about another treatment option for back-pain patients. However, the problem with this one is that it works by blasting a hole in the vertebrae? Yep, you heard that…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

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

RIP Radiofrequency Ablation Treatment for Low Back Pain

When Radiofrequency Ablation (RFA) became popular in the late 90s, it seemed like a miracle for many patients with chronic neck pain. At the same time, while this therapy seemed to work reliably to provide pain relief in the neck, it was always hit or miss as a treatment for low back pain. Perhaps that’s…read more

Why Is My Big Toe Numb?

On this page: Pinched nerve and toe numbness Other issues that can cause big toe numbness If your big toe is numb or you’re having on-again, off-again episodes of numbness, consider this a warning sign of something bigger — like a pinched or irritated nerve in your low back. Big toe numbness can also be…read more