“If you walk into someone’s office and you’ve got back pain and they’re telling you we need to do this, try something else,” he says. “Not saying you won’t get to the point that you need surgery. But sometimes the body just needs a little help to do what it’s supposed to do.”
He has watched the aftermath enough times to hold that line. During residency he operated on spines, and what he saw stayed with him. “The far majority of people didn’t do so hot after it was done,” he says. “Once you’ve had a surgery, that’s it. You’re not going back.” He tells his own family that if a car wreck leaves a spine out of place, call someone else and let them do what must be done. Short of that, he wants to exhaust the alternatives first.
Full article here.
