Joint Corticosteroid Injections: How is This Still a Thing?
Intra-articular injections with corticosteroids is a very common medical treatment for the pain caused by joint osteoarthritis. Most patients do not know that corticosteroids are not a treatment for arthritis and does not heal the joint. They work by reducing inflammation and usually provide quick relief of pain. This pain relief, however is short lived: usually lasting only for no […]
Letter From a Grateful Father
This letter is from the father of one of our youngest patients. Hunter is a high school student who came to our clinic with his father seeking an alternative to surgery after an injury to his right shoulder prevented him from pitching for his high school team: “My son Hunter is a pitcher for Gaither High school and a defensive […]
Epidemic of Unnecessary Surgeries
I have blogged several times before about the epidemic of unnecessary spine and joint surgeries performed in our country. Spine surgery is the single most costly surgery for Medicare. The rate of spine and joint surgeries in the USA is 2-3 times higher than in any other industrialized country, with incredibly large regional variations. The widespread use of MRI scans, […]
Alternative to Rotator Cuff Surgery
This week we saw two patients in our clinic that demonstrate the usefulness of precisely placed regenerative injections with stem cells as an alternative to shoulder surgery. Both patients were seen 6 months after their procedure and both were doing very well. Charles P is 71 year old male who became paraplegic about 40 years ago as a result of […]
The Failed Promises of Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery
First, what exactly is minimally invasive spine surgery? You would think that this term means surgery involving minimal manipulation of, and minimal damage to the tissues of the spine and around the spine. But, in reality that is not necessarily the case. The definition of minimally invasive spine surgery is not based on the amount of tissue removed or manipulated, […]