A little creeped out right now.

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Michelle
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October 27, 2011 at 2:34 am

Post count: 6

#5046

BTW, before I tell my story I just wanted to write that I watched a youtube vidio of cervical spine surgery. While is scares the bejeebers out of me, I learned a lot.

Thank you VERY much!

I’m a little worried and concerned. I have had a pulled muscle in my neck for 18 months. It was so stupid I was embarrassed to tell my doc. I tried everything, hot, cold, 2 new beds, 4 new pillows, 2 new phones, new posture, NSAIDs, muscle relaxers, stretching, massage, everything. Nothing made a difference so I finally gave up. It wasn’t painful, just annoying.

Eight days ago it was excrutiating pain, never had this before. Everything from my bra strap up was in spasms, I have never had pain like this before. A megga headache that is in cycles. The more spasms, the more headache, the more headache, the more spasms. It feels like fire shooting down to my shoulder.

I am a US citizen living in Mexico. I can b-u-y (spam filter blocking this word) Soma or anything else here without an Rx. I bought Duoflex (combo drug of NSAID and Soma) and it did nothing. Finally four days ago I went to my PCP (who I work for and as an RN I know he is great.) and I finally told him about the pulled muscle in my neck, feeling like an idiot.

He diagnosed it as a herniated disc and I am scheduled for an MRI. He said my muscle strength is significantly weaker in my right hand vs. left. BUT… I am left handed. Wouldn’t that be normal?

Look, I am an RN and I should know this but right now I can’t think, sleep, or function. My everything hurts.

I have a few questions.

Is this going to be my new life? Pain, muscle spasms, and an inability to think or function?

I see my sis going through the same thing and she is now addicted to narcotics and in chronic pain 100% of the time. She has had nerves burned, everything to resolve chronic pain. Nothing works. She is now looking at a neuro transmitter for pain control.

Is it true that this can possibly be genetic? Everyone in my family has the same problem. This is something I never heard of before. I thought it was age or injury, not genetic.

My doc currently has me on Lyrica 150mg qd, Ativan 0.5mg bid, and Motrin 400mg bid. It’s not working. I called him this AM and he said to stop by and he will give me narcotics for pain management until the MRI.

I don’t want narcotics, I want a fix. Please tell me, what do I do?

The medical care in the private sector is mega fantastic in MX. Their socialized medicine, not so great. But I have private insurance and it will cover the private sector. My doc wants me to go to a neurosurgeon. Do I do this?

Suggestions or thoughts would be greatly appreciated. We have Chiropracters here, is that the answer?

Donald Corenman, MD, DC
Moderator

October 27, 2011 at 11:24 pm

Post count: 8660

#5047

Your “pulled muscle” in your neck that you suffered with for years most likely was an annular tear or small herniation of one of the discs. Many individuals report annular tear symptoms to feel like a “pulled muscle”. Most likely, the intense pain you experienced starting 8 days ago was a complete herniation compressing the nerve root.

The muscle strength deficit is again, most likely from nerve compression. Your physician apparently performed a skilled motor examination and found the strength deficit. One hand should not be significantly weaker than the other normally.

I cannot comment on your sister and why she is the way she is currently but most likely, your life will not follow hers if you treat this condition appropriately.

Follow your physician’s advice. You should have an MRI of your cervical spine. You may be a candidate for physical therapy and an epidural steroid injection or you may need surgery. The treatment decision depends upon your examination and the findings on the MRI.

Most people with this condition and appropriate treatment have significant or complete resolution of their symptoms.

Dr. Corenman

PLEASE REMEMBER, THIS FORUM IS MEANT TO PROVIDE GENERAL INFORMATION ON SPINE ANATOMY, CONDITIONS AND TREATMENTS. TO GET AN ACCURATE DIAGNOSIS, YOU MUST VISIT A QUALIFIED PROFESSIONAL IN PERSON.

Donald Corenman, MD, DC is a highly-regarded spine surgeon, considered an expert in the area of neck and back pain. Trained as both a Medical Doctor and Doctor of Chiropractic, Dr. Corenman earned academic appointments as Clinical Assistant Professor and Assistant Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, and his research on spine surgery and rehabilitation has resulted in the publication of multiple peer-reviewed articles and two books.

Michelle
Member

October 28, 2011 at 2:49 am

Post count: 6

#5048

Thank you so much for your time. I’ll probably be getting the MRI tomorrow.

Michelle
Member

October 30, 2011 at 9:04 am

Post count: 6

#5049

I did get the MRI yesterday and it is a herniated disc but also a neck sprain. How would a sprain show up on an MRI?

Michelle
Member

October 30, 2011 at 8:13 pm

Post count: 6

#5050

I have US ins and MX ins, how do I decide on a surgeon?

Donald Corenman, MD, DC
Moderator

November 1, 2011 at 1:33 am

Post count: 8660

#5055

“Sprain” is not a great word to describe a cervical injury even though we all use it. Sprain means an injury to a ligament but does not describe the ligament or how severe the sprain really is.

The neck has many ligaments, capsules and even the disc and any injury to any of them could be considered a sprain.

If the term sprain is used in the classic sense,it would be very difficult to identify a sprain on an MRI.

Dr. Corenman

PLEASE REMEMBER, THIS FORUM IS MEANT TO PROVIDE GENERAL INFORMATION ON SPINE ANATOMY, CONDITIONS AND TREATMENTS. TO GET AN ACCURATE DIAGNOSIS, YOU MUST VISIT A QUALIFIED PROFESSIONAL IN PERSON.

Donald Corenman, MD, DC is a highly-regarded spine surgeon, considered an expert in the area of neck and back pain. Trained as both a Medical Doctor and Doctor of Chiropractic, Dr. Corenman earned academic appointments as Clinical Assistant Professor and Assistant Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, and his research on spine surgery and rehabilitation has resulted in the publication of multiple peer-reviewed articles and two books.
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Donald Corenman, MD, DC

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81 reviews

Eric S

Sep 26, 2021

by Eric S on Donald Corenman, MD, DC

Successful pars repair at 46 years old

Back in November of 2018 (at 46 years old) I came from Vancouver BC to have a pars repair done with Dr. Donald Corenman at the Steadman Clinic in Vail Colorado. I'm finally posting this review nearly three years later in late 2021. The reason I waited so long was I wanted to know the final result before I posted my review. Unfortunately in that time Dr. Corenman has retired. Nevertheless, I want to post this review of Dr. Corenman and his staff at the Steadman Clinic in their excellent treatment of my L5 pars interarticularis.

I fractured my pars at age 42 back in 2014 when rolling on the gym floor, and was denied treatment by the Canadian healthcare system, probably due to my age. First my GP told me there was no surgical option for a pars defect, which was quite incorrect! I tried to live with it, but the symptoms worsened (periodic random spine slippage and weeks of resultant pain after just bending over to tie my shoe, so I eventually learned to mostly squat and hardly bend). When I finally consulted with Canadian spine surgeons, I was told they believed my pars defect had been congenital (since birth). This was absurd, considering I had done extreme martial arts (including jiu jitsu) for years prior, as well as 5 years of reinforcing steel full time in my 20s, probably the hardest job on the back you can find. No pars defect like mine would possibly have allowed this--ergo it was impossible that I had had the defect since birth. I did however have an asymptomatic congenital spina bifida occulta that made me more susceptible to a pars fracture. In 2014 in one instant, I went from having the strongest back people I knew said they'd ever seen, to being unable to safely bend over and tie my shoe without a non-negligible risk of my spine slipping randomly (which would lead to weeks of pain after each occurrence). This was due to the unilateral L5 pars defect, otherwise known as spondylolysis. It was when lying in pain on the floor 4 years later after maybe the 6th spine slippage event post injury, that I had had enough, and resolved to have surgery. If Canada's "universal health care" said no, I would make lemonade from lemons, and find the very best surgeon in the world at pars repairs. That was Dr. Donald Corenman. Dr. Corenman back in 2018 ran a website https://neckandback.com/ that dedicated many pages to the science of every aspect of pars repairs, from eligibility (good discs on MRI), to best surgical techniques (minimal open compared to minimally invasive), best imaging to use (i.e., O-Arm with Stealth imaging vs. older fluoroscopy), the ideal amount of BMP to use and why not use too much or too little, and much more, all to do with pars repairs, pages upon pages of his site just on the pars, with scientific references and his own extensive expert opinion. As a health research statistician, I was very impressed with this. It was in stark contrast to the websites of other spine surgeons which barely gave the pars a word or two, focusing almost exclusively on fusions. I had found the best surgeon in the world for pars repairs, and so after Dr. Corenman personally screened my MRI to ensure my discs were healthy, I booked the surgery.

Being 46 years old at the time of surgery in 2018, with a 4-year-old pars fracture from 2014 combined with a congenital SBO meant my pars fragment was somewhat atrophied, but it was "very solid", said Dr. Corenman in the operative report. Nevertheless, it was challenging with two things to fix, the pars and SBO, and OR time was around 4 hours. Recovery over the following months was guided by a very clear "Spine binder" from the Steadman Clinic with strict rules of "no BLT" (no bending, lifting or twisting), and illustrated physiotherapy guidelines. They even warned patients to avoid fish oil supplements, which could excessively dampen inflammation and hence slow bone healing. They answered many questions I had during months of recovery, with responses coming from the very supportive Lori Fugate (then director of Dr. Corenman's practice), and Ehrich Bean (then physician's assistant at the practice), as well as a couple calls with Dr. Corenman himself after two of the CT scans. Ehrich Bean offered great advice for taking the spine binder conservatively due to the nature of pars repairs vs. fusions. The final post-op CT scan I had was a couple weeks ago at 34 months post-op, and Dr. Corenman had retired, but I got a very positive and informative call from Eric Strauch (current PA at the Steadman Clinic under Dr. Corenman's replacement there, and who had also worked with Dr. Corenman previously). The staff at the Steadman Clinic were extremely supportive all the way through the process. I should mention, the local Canadian spine surgeon did offer me very good post-operative support including antibiotics as needed to deal with a mild surface incision-site infection early on, booking numerous x-rays when I felt something was amiss, as well as booking all four of my post-op CT scans. I am very grateful for that support also.

My final result shows plenty of solid bone across the pars and a healed SBO, with my vertebral body now a solid bone ring instead of being broken at two places as it was pre-op. Does my spine hold up in the real world? You bet! I have recently dug and moved several yards of dirt and sand and gravel by myself (shovel and wheelbarrow!) to fix our water main, pulled roots from the yard, moved several "portable" (these are HUGE) air conditioners up several flights of stairs my myself, and lifted weights. I now run 2 miles (3.2 KM) several times weekly with a hard 100 meter dash in the middle. I bend deeply before each run I go on, with no spine slippage. My spine feels amazing. I can bend over to do exercise, or real word tasks, with no risk of spine slippage.

My sincere thanks to God, Dr. Donald Corenman, Lori Fugate, Ehrich Bean, Eric Strauch, and the Steadman Clinic, as well as the Canadian spine surgeon who offered me excellent post-operative care back in Canada. You have all given me a new lease on life.

Sincerely,
Eric S

Robert S

May 11, 2021

by Robert S on Donald Corenman, MD, DC

Back Fusion Surgery

I had my entire lumbar spine fused in November of 2018. I had scoliosis , with pinched nerves that were so painful I could hardly walk - and standing for more than a few minutes was impossible. Even sitting was painful.
The fusion surgery produced immediate relief! And the recovery was much easier than I expected.
To this day I can do all the activities I love from hiking, to standing in a stream fly fishing to riding my bike long distances - or just walking down the street with my wife.
Kudos to Dr. Corenman and his staff, (including the two Erics) for taking such good care of me!

Leslie R

Jul 9, 2020

by Leslie R on Donald Corenman, MD, DC

TLIF

I had my TLIF surgery on 6/24/2020 by Dr. Corenman, I can not say enough good things about the Dr or his staff. I was always treated with respect and explained everything throughly, that made it easy for everyone to understand. I highly recommend Dr. Corenman and the Steadman Clinic.

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