The Spine

For me, spine and back surgeries evoke a lot of complex emotions. For some patients, surgery is clearly indicated, as is the case for an unstable fracture. But a lot of people fall into a grey zone for which spine surgery may or may not help. I feel that these patients are between a rock and a hard place. Chronic back pain, shooting pain to the legs, limitation in exercise and movement are real life-altering conditions. When they afflict young active people, they can be devastating. After failing medications, physical therapy, steroid injections, and other interventions, it's no wonder that these patients turn to surgery as a magic bullet. A lot of times, surgery works. But I also see patients for whom back surgery yields little benefit, and occasionally, those patients who need to return to the operating room over and over again. Watching this, I feel like these patients are trapped in a vicious cycle where each surgery begets further surgeries. They no longer live the lives they want. It's one of the hardest things to see. The spine is such a complex structure and the orthopedic and neurosurgical interventions we have are not perfect. It's one of those surgeries for which I really think about the impact of the disease and its treatment on the patient's life.

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