What Causes Pain Around the Ribs and Back Symptoms?

In this article: Understanding the thoracic spine Causes of pain in the ribs and back Treatment The thoracic spine and ribs are like a no man’s land for many physicians, including spine experts. While many physicians are comfortable treating and diagnosing neck and low back problems when it comes to things like pain around the…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

What Causes Knee Pain 1 Year After Meniscus Surgery?

On this page: What is meniscus surgery? Does meniscus surgery work? Can the meniscus tear again after surgery? What happens to the knee after meniscus surgery? What can you do if you still have knee pain? Knee pain 1 year after meniscus surgery is much more common than most people realize. Why? Let’s dig in.…read more

Neck Pain And Dizziness: The Inner Ear Is Only Part Of The Picture

Did you know that your neck can make you dizzy? Most patients don’t know that dizziness also known as cervical vertigo and neck pain can be connected, and many physicians miss this diagnosis.[1] Why? Both patients and doctors think inner ear or brain when dizziness occurs. However, when the neck component of our balance system…read more

Upper Back Stomach Pain: Saving a Life

In treating patients in pain all day every day, every once in a while, you can save a life. So today’s patient story is about just that, a patient with a pinched nerve in his upper back who had “upper back stomach pain” that was so severe that he was contemplating suicide. I just saw…read more

Avoid Ulnar Shortening Surgery: What’s Causing My Pain if It’s Not My Ulna Bone?

A few years back, I blogged on the barbaric procedure known as ulnar shortening. A patient who was about to pull the trigger on this surgery wrote me and wanted me to blog on what could be causing the pain he experiences. Hence, this morning’s blog. What Is Ulnar Variance or a Long Ulna? The…read more

This Is SO Wrong: Neck Fusion Gone Bad

I have had about enough of my spine-surgery colleagues who perform a single fusion that doesn’t work and then keep digging the proverbial hole deeper and deeper by performing more fusions. Case in point this morning is a poor middle-aged woman with her whole neck fused! Now she’s miserable and has complications related to the…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