Back Or Neck Surgery Recommended? First Get The Facts…. Then Think Again
First let me say that I am not against surgery for the neck or back. I am against surgery as a first line of care or defense for severe spinal pain.
And the facts support me.
Recent studies indicate that in a 5 year follow up, there was no statistically significant improvement in outcomes for those who did surgery… versus those who did absolutely nothing. Now, I didn’t say these patients got better. In fact, some got worse whether they did surgery or didn’t.
But the surgical patients did not do better. I find this disturbing considering the risk to the surgical patients including hospital induced infection, anesthesia reaction, possibility of negative surgical reaction or increased pain due to the procedure.
If find it more disturbing that patient’s actually opt for surgery because there is now a viable, safe, reliable and effective alternative available.
Studies as far back as 2003 by Dr. Dennis McClure, a neurosurgeon quite familiar with spinal surgery, indicate that patients recommended for surgery who opted for a protocol of non-surgical decompression therapy had a 92% success rate!. This is a real eye-opener as in the past, these patients would have undergone extensive surgery exposing them to all the risks previously noted. Not to mention the sky high costs (around $154,000.00 including surgery, operating room suite, anesthesia fees, post-surgical rehab and hosptitilization according to the AMA).
Also interesting was the fact that those who had submitted to but failed previous surgical “decompression” procedures known as “laminectomies” (whereby the a piece of the vertebrae called the lamina is removed) had a success rate of 79% with a protocol of non-surgical decompression. Quite remarkable particularly as these patients typically have post-surgical scar tissue and muscle weakness due to the surgical “wounds”.
Conclusion: If you’re thinking about surgery for back or neck pain…. Maybe you should think again and explore other options.
Til next time.
Dr. Dave Podell, DC
Want to find out if you’re a candidate. Give us a call at Waterfront Spine Institute for a no charge consultation 201-840-1980 or go to www.waterfrontspinerehab.com for more info
Thank you so much for visiting my site. I encourage you to leave your questions and comments below. And for more information on Non-Surgical Spinal Decompression please fill out the form to the right or give us a call at 201-840-1980
About Dr. Podell, DC: Dr. Dave Podell, DC has been in active practice for over 25 years and has seen countless numbers of the most difficult and previously failed cases. As the clinic director of the Watefront Spine Institute in Edgewater, New Jersey, just minutes from the GW Bridge, Lincoln Tunnel and midtown Manhattan, Dr. Podell, DC runs one of the Northeast’s most advanced and evolutionary multi-disciplinary clinics for the treatment of disc herniation and associated ailments. Dr. Podell, DC sits on the advisory board of Spinal Aid Centers Of America and trains other health care providers in the science and art of non surgical spinal decompression in his Edgewater facility. He continues to train and advance his clinic’s state of the art spinal rehabilitation programs and is known nationwide in his field. He is additionally certified in neurodiagnostic evaluations, Spinal Manipulation Under Anasthesia and Disability Impairment rating. In addition to NSSD, he had received advanced training in Spinal Chiropractic Biophysics, Active Therapeutic Techniques, MedX and Spine Force Spinal Rehabilitation, Extremity manipulation, orthopedics and neurology.
Can Medications, Pain Relievers Or Pain Management Procedures Be The Absolute Worst Thing For Serious Herniated Discs or Serious Neck & Back Pain? Part III
In a post treatment study of successful ….. as well as “un-successful”… spinal pain sufferers treated with non surgical decompression (NSSD), Dr. Dennis McClure, an Ohio based Neurosurgeon who uses these methods in his own practice, reported on several factors which seemed to impair the success of his care. While overall success rates were 79 to 92% overall with non surgical decompression methods, the one factor in his study that really jumped out me was this… and it really initially threw me for a loop but made a whole bunch more sense after chewing on this data a bit more….was that patients who were taking large amounts of medication were much less successful in their outcomes and some had even more pain.
Keeping in mind that roughly 8 to 9 out of 10 treated with a substantial degree of success, I found it amazing the use of medication did the opposite of what one would think which is to be helpful in alleviating pain. Also, patients on larger amounts of medication are typically less healthy. It also appears the use of the drugs seems to impair healing. Dr. McClures general conclusion, one with which I agree wholeheartedly, is that this certainly lends itself to the idea that more wholistic and drugless or diminished use of drug type therapies and approaches make better sense for most patients.
Conclusion: Medications should be used sparingly and short term only for cases of serious back and neck pain as it seriously masks pain while the patient unknowingly continues to damage, or destroy, the underlying tissue which is causing the pain. Find out what’ causing your pain and get it repaired.
Til next time.
Dr. Dave Podell, DC
Want to find out if you’re a candidate. Give us a call at Waterfront Spine Institute for a no charge consultation 201-840-1980 or go to www.waterfrontspinerehab.com for more info
Thank you so much for visiting my site. I encourage you to leave your questions and comments below. And for more information on Non-Surgical Spinal Decompression please fill out the form to the right or give us a call at 201-840-1980
About Dr. Podell, DC: Dr. Dave Podell, DC has been in active practice for over 25 years and has seen countless numbers of the most difficult and previously failed cases. As the clinic director of the Watefront Spine Institute in Edgewater, New Jersey, just minutes from the GW Bridge, Lincoln Tunnel and midtown Manhattan, Dr. Podell, DC runs one of the Northeast’s most advanced and evolutionary multi-disciplinary clinics for the treatment of disc herniation and associated ailments. Dr. Podell, DC sits on the advisory board of Spinal Aid Centers Of America and trains other health care providers in the science and art of non surgical spinal decompression in his Edgewater facility. He continues to train and advance his clinic’s state of the art spinal rehabilitation programs and is known nationwide in his field. He is additionally certified in neurodiagnostic evaluations, Spinal Manipulation Under Anasthesia and Disability Impairment rating. In addition to NSSD, he had received advanced training in Spinal Chiropractic Biophysics, Active Therapeutic Techniques, MedX and Spine Force Spinal Rehabilitation, Extremity manipulation, orthopedics and neurology.
