ACL Tear Stem Cell Injection: Ultrasound vs. Fluoroscopy

There’s been a lot of controversy lately over whether an ACL Tear Stem Cell Injection can be properly performed using ultrasound. Some physicians cite a paper published in 2015 that seems to show ultrasound can get the job done, and while this may be true for intact ACLs, where injecting them from the bottom of…read more

Who Knew That the Hip Was Impacted by the Back?

Your body is connected, a fact that modern medicine often ignores. Why? It’s easiest as a physician to focus on the spot where it hurts. However, when we make changes to the body through surgery, it has impacts. This morning I’d like to review a study that shows that surgically fusing the low back for…read more

You May Have a Pinched Low Back Nerve Despite What Your Doctor Thinks

The first day of medical school, our head honcho got up and was brave enough to say that about half of what they would teach us would probably be proven wrong. Yikes, was he ever right. This also applies to what your doctor thinks he or she knows about back pain. For example, we have…read more

Loose Ligamentum Teres? A New Injection May Help

The ligamentum teres, which lives in your hip, is the red-headed stepchild of ligaments. I say that because most doctors couldn’t tell you where it lives, and the ones who know it’s in the hip mostly ignore it. Yet this ligament is critical for hip stability in dancers, figure skaters, and other athletes who use…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

Multifidus Back Pain: Why Isn’t Your Doctor Talking About It?

Many people have multifidus back pain, but most have never been diagnosed with it. In fact, you’ve likely never even heard of multifidus back pain because you doctor probably has never talked about it. If he or she isn’t looking at your multifidus when looking for the cause of back pain, he or she is…read more

Hip Arthritis X-Ray Not Associated with Pain?

I love studies that question our belief systems in orthopedics, and this new one is a doozy. Several years ago, orthopedic guidelines shifted from requiring a knee or hip MRI to recommend a knee or hip replacement to just requiring X-rays. Now, a new study questions whether that’s a smart idea. Basically, it didn’t find an…read more