The Interventional Orthobiologics Blog
Blog covering topics and research in interventional orthobiologics, interventional orthopedics, and orthopedic procedures.
Don’t Expect to Toss the Opioids After Spinal Fusion
Most patients I speak to who are contemplating a spinal fusion for low back pain believe that their pain will be solved and that they will be able to stop using narcotics. However, what if that wasn’t remotely true? Would they still sign up for this invasive and potentially dangerous surgical procedure? New research suggests…read more
Has Science Discovered New Types of Diabetes Beyond 1 and 2?
Adult-onset diabetes is a huge societal problem. In fact, problems with sugar metabolism are likely at the core of why most Americans develop heart disease and cancer. In addition, out-of-control sugar intake and insulin response can also seriously screw up your stem cells and shorten your life-span. Hence, when scientists discover a new type of…read more Real Surgery No Better than Fake Surgery for Tennis Elbow?
This is yet another in my ongoing series showing that most elective orthopedic surgery is useless. Meaning that while most of the American public with an injury and pain believe that they are just one surgery away from “fixing” their problem, the research on orthopedic surgery procedures continues to show that for the most part, it’s…read more Treating the Functional Spinal Unit: Time to Get Rid of the Pain Generator
Interventional pain medicine teaches us that we need to find what I call “the magic pain generator.” Meaning we have a whole specialty of physicians (which used to include me) whose focus is trying to find one structure in the spine that’s causing most of the patient’s spinal pain. However, while sometimes this can be done,…read more Don’t Count on a Knee Replacement to Improve Pain or Function
I see these ads on buses in my town with pictures of middle-aged people rock climbing with their new knee replacements. However, is this reality? For example, I’ve blogged before on research showing that many patients feel no better or have no greater function after knee replacement. And it isn’t just this one study; many…read more Is Hip PAO Surgery a Bad Idea?
I have my list of surgeries that when I first learned of them, my reaction was, “They did what to you!?” Hip PAO surgery has been on that list for years. Why? Its goal is to replace the need for a hip replacement, but it’s far more invasive than the surgery it seeks to prevent. Let me…read more 