When a world of information is available at your fingertips, it can be hard to pick your head up and away from your smart phone. What if I told you looking down at a cell phone is the equivalent of placing a 60-pound weight on your spine? According to new calculations, published in the journal Surgical Technology International, sixty pounds is about the equivalent weight of four bowling balls or an 8 year-old child sitting on your neck. You may not realize it, but the amount of time spent looking down at your phone can result in damage to your body and overall health. Research suggests that spinal pressure actually doubles with each inch you bend your head down. Your spine protects your nervous system, which controls and coordinates all the different functions of your body. Any misalignment of the spine can create disruption in nerve communication to your organs and tissues, causing abnormal effects that could linger for years.

One of the many benefits of patients having surgeries and procedures done in an ASC (Ambulatory Surgical Center) is the low (and sometimes non-existent) infection rate. According to the most recent report by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), hospital-acquired infections now affect 1 in 25 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.

By Ara J. Deukmedjian, M.D., Board Certified Neuro-Spine Surgeon