Buddy Hield intercepts the ball from the left just as Jackson infringes on his right. He pivots to cut the blocker from interrupting his drive to the basket. First to the left, then to the right; he ducks, and plunges down the court only seconds away from another victory.  With 3 seconds remaining on the clock, he braces himself for the vital shot. He jumps, shoots, and hears the tranquil “swoosh” as the ball falls through the basket. As his feet land hard on the court surface the force of his descent sends a shock through his body. His lower limbs and spine bear the burden of the descending weight increased by the gravity from his jump.  The impact is only minimally reduced by the Dr. Scholl’s shock absorbing inserts Coach prompted the team to employ this season. This constant twisting, extending, and leaping in addition to routine weight training and limited recovery time is gradually setting Buddy up for an injury to the discs within his spine.

Recently the Florida Medical Association (FMA) president, Ralph Nobo, M.D. addressed one of the biggest issues facing Florida physicians today: Insurance companies. Physicians are constantly asking themselves if a patient’s insurance company will let the patient have the care that is best for them and ultimately pursue the course of action laid out by the physician. Insurance companies are focused more on reducing their own costs than improving care. As a direct result, they are creating barriers to quality care and much higher out-of-pocket costs for patients.

Anterior Lumbar Interbody Fusion (ALIF) is a major spinal fusion surgery performed through the patient’s abdominal cavity. The surgery is performed using large metal instruments with tremendous force in close proximity to major blood vessels, nerves, bladder and intestines. The surgeon must remove the diseased spinal disc and implant a metal cage into the spine which is located deep in the abdominal cavity where it is dark and often difficult to see. Injuries to blood vessels, bowel obstruction from abdominal scarring and nerve injuries are serious and frequently unanticipated complications of the surgery.

"Bless you"

Frozen shoulder, also known as adhesive capsulitis, is a disorder in which the shoulder capsule (or the envelope) and the surrounding tissues, becomes inflamed and stiff, causing restriction of motion and chronic pain.

The world of spine care is vast and complex, leading patients down many different paths, each dependent on a mixture of the physician and patient’s preferences. Because of how varied this landscape is, we run into patients who tell us horror stories of past experiences at other spine clinics all the time. From failed back surgeries leaving them in more pain than when they started to being depressed and seeking hope because a physician runs out of answers, patients shoulder quite a load mentally, emotionally and physically. We want to ease that load. We want to be your beacon of hope that says life can and will get better.

Almost all of us know what it’s like to be conflicted with back pain or neck pain, and too many of us know what it is like to be afflicted by that pain on a day-to-day basis. Sure, you could learn to live with it. You could make sacrifices in your activities to lessen the occurrence of those painful twists and excruciating bends. In the wake of your pain lies your quality of life, a glimpse of the activities you used to love and the faces of those who long for the person you used to be.