Neurological Disorders

Chiari Malformation Treatment – Do You Need Surgery?

I often see patients after surgical Chiari malformation treatment. Many actually have craniocervical instability causing their problems, but mistakenly get Chiari surgery and don’t do well. In fact, I just spoke to one of these patients this week on a Telemedicine consult. I tried to explain to her that this is a procedure with significant…read more

The Vagus Nerve, Neck Pain, Anxiety, Headaches, and Depression

On this page: The function of the vagus nerve Neck pain and the vagus nerve Other symptoms of an irritated vagus nerve We’ve seen neck pain patients for years with lots of seemingly unrelated symptoms. Many have suffered from depression, anxiety, headaches, and some even cardiac problems like runs of tachycardia. So what’s causing all…read more

Stem Cell Treatment for Neuropathy? Can You Tell a Scam from Real?

We get sent questions all of the time by patients. One recent question was about the difference between what a clinic chain says it offers as stem cell treatment for neuropathy and what we do. Since this is also a great way to explain the way to look for clinics that have high expertise in…read more

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

What Is Craniocervical Instability (CCI)?

On this page: Causes of craniocervical instability CCI symptoms Diagnosing craniocervical instability Treatments for CCI Cervical refers to the neck and instability that a joint or spinal segment moves around too much (1). When a person suffers from craniocervical instability or CCI, the strong ligaments that hold their head to their upper neck are lax…read more

Craniocervical Instability Measurements

Did you know that some people have problems with the ligaments that hold their head on? These patients often become like a pinball in the great arcade game of medical specialists, going from one to the other without a diagnosis. They can sometimes find a diagnosis if they meet a doctor who knows which tests…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

What We Can Learn from a Dead Walking Cat with No Brain

It’s Halloween time, which is a big deal in my house. My wife loves to decorate heavily, and we all get into it as we live in a neighborhood that gets hundreds of kids an hour. At a recent conference, I saw this great video of an old dead-cat experiment, and I thought it was…read more