Dr Corenman it's me again Carolns

Tagged: degenerative spondylolisthesis with spinal stenosis

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carolns
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April 4, 2016 at 12:46 pm

Post count: 88

#21878

I had a cat scan for my lower back and don’t know . I am going to see the surgeon that did my neck,c2c3c4. I am 75 yrs old.I would appreciate any advive you give me.
CT Lumber spine:
Unenhanced axil ct imaging was taken through the lumbar spine from mid L2 to the sacrum with sagittal reconstructions performed.
L 2-3 there is mild diffuse disc bulge. The foramina are patent.
L3-4 there is mild diffuse disc bulge. The Foramina are patent.
L4-5 There is grade 1 anterolisthesis of L4 ON L5. There is degeneration of the disc with lost of disc height, vacuum phenomena and severe diffuse disc bulge. There is severe bilateral facet osteoarthritis There is severe spinal canal due to the bulging annulus and hypertrophy of the ligamentum flavum. There is moderate to severe bilateral foraminal
narrowing due to the anterolisthessis, disc bulge and facet hypertrophy.
L5 S1 There is grade 1 anterolisthesis on L5 ON S1. There is degeneration of the disc with loss of disc height, vacuum phenomena and moderate diffuse disc bulge. There is moderate bilateral foraminal narrowing due to the anterolisthesis ,disc bulge and facet hypertrophy. Thank you Carolns

Donald Corenman, MD, DC
Moderator

April 4, 2016 at 4:28 pm

Post count: 8660

#21883

Images do not live in a vacuum. What symptoms do you have? See the section; https://neckandback.com/conditions/how-to-describe-your-history-and-symptoms-of-lower-back-and-leg-pain/.

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.

carolns
Participant

April 5, 2016 at 9:58 am

Post count: 88

#21893

Hi Dr. Corenman,
sleep on back with pillow under knees, across my waist very stiff and back legs when I get up, if I rest at home not bad, go out and get home, pain in buttocks and waist and upper back legs, Have pins and needles around groin on left side ,buttocks and both feet top and bottom, the only way to get it feeling better is lay on bed with heating pad and pillows under knees, takes 2 or 3 days at least to feel like going out again.

I did 3 epidurals in spine and the first one took all pain away. I should have stopped at one but didn’t know.
Went to dr. and asked for appointment with my neck doctor. I called and he does lumber.
What I would like is a epidural with xray and light if possible. Don’t want surgery unless necessary.
ps my neck is good. What do you think? Thank you Carolns

Donald Corenman, MD, DC
Moderator

April 6, 2016 at 5:42 am

Post count: 8660

#21903

You have a degenerative spondylolisthesis with spinal stenosis and isolated disc resorption at both L4-5 and L5-S1. Most likely your symptoms are from lumbar stenosis and instability. See the four sections:

https://neckandback.com/conditions/degenerative-spondylolisthesis-or-spondlylolysthesis/ https://neckandback.com/conditions/lumbar-spine-instability/
https://neckandback.com/conditions/lumbar-spinal-stenosis-central-stenosis/
https://neckandback.com/conditions/isolated-disc-resorption-lumbar-spine-idr/

I believe these will give you the information you need about your conditions.

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.

carolns
Participant

April 8, 2016 at 10:10 am

Post count: 88

#21918

Dr,. Corenman I understand the first link you gave me above. I can walk very well with a walker as that opens things up and no pain. When I walk normal I get pain down my legs like you say. I don’t take a walker to the mall, use a cart and I am lucky there is a pond where I live where I live that I walk for exercise. Great video….not so scary
.
Now I will study the second link. I am going to go to the Dr. who did my neck in Halifax (probably mts)to get his opinion too. Can a cortisone injection with xray help too? Will be back after I read and reread the second link. Thanks for helping me so much. Carolns from Nova Scotia. My neck is great by the way.

Donald Corenman, MD, DC
Moderator

April 9, 2016 at 4:55 am

Post count: 8660

#21926

The walker is a common tool for walking when you have spinal stenosis. This tool allows you to lean forward when you walk which opens the spinal canal (bending forward opens the canal by about 30%). When you walk “normally” (which requires you to bend your back backwards to balance your torso over your pelvis), this narrows the canal and causes the nerves to be pinched. This nerve compression is sort of like holding your breath when you walk. You can walk as far as your lung volume will take you until you run out of oxygen. The walker is like an oxygen tank.

Epidural steroid injections are highly valuable to treat this disorder. They work however with decreasing success over the years.

Good luck and keep us informed of your progress.

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

Average rating:

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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