I see many patients who have been given what I consider to be bad advice. These are the patients who have been told wait until your back is so bad that you have to crawl into the doctor to get your back surgery. This was the advice given to patients who needed hip and knee replacement surgery years ago. We now know that advice is probably bad advice because when you start developing a knee issue early or a hip issue early or a cervical or lumbar or thoracic spine issue early it is not better to be proactive and to assess that with imaging and an examination and get early treatment recommendations to prevent perhaps the severe degeneration or injury that may occur. This enables us as physicians to 1. Help prevent you from undergoing major surgeries possibly. 2. It helps us guide you to a better exercise strengthening program that may prevent another injuries and more rapid progression of degenerative process.
We all age, and with age we all deteriorate. If any of your have noticed that improvement as you age I would love to hear from you. This degenerative process that occurs with aging if treated early enables us to offer your if you need an operation many different type of surgeries such as a minimally invasive micro procedure, a minimally invasive for example arthroscopy of the knee or an arthroscopy of the knee before needing a total knee or total hip. Well, this is similarly true in the spine. Minimally invasive spine surgery (cervical disc replacement or lumbar disc replacement) that does not fuse the spine but maintains mobility and function may be more appropriate, may be you just simply need a micro endoscopic surgery through a tube that will provide significant relief.
Therefore, early diagnosis and treatment of early aches and pains that one finds throughout their spine in my opinion are best evaluated quickly and early. Notice professional athletes the minute they are injure on the court or on the field there is a physician standing within l0 yards who sees them immediately and they began treatment at that moment. The reason they do this with professional athletes that is optimizes and speeds the recovery and helps to prevent other injuries. They do not send them home until they wait until it is so bad you cannot play anymore or keep playing on it and then finally explode the knee or the hip or the back they get treatment early and try to get back out there to be functional. Why not treat yourself to that same type of care which will optimize your recovery and make you greater than better?
