MRI results

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dawaldren
Member

July 31, 2012 at 9:21 am

Post count: 3

#6630

I emailed the mri images Saturday afternoon, I didn’t know how else to get them to you, but I would greatly appreciate it if you could look at them. On most days he says his neck hurts so bad he doesn’t even want to get out of bed. I don’t know what else to do at this point.

Thanks
Dani

Donald Corenman, MD, DC
Moderator

August 1, 2012 at 12:06 am

Post count: 8660

#6637

The best way for me to review images is for you to send them to me via FedEx. Call my office at (970) 476-1100 to get more information regarding this method of delivery.

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.

Alwaysontop
Member

September 24, 2012 at 7:23 am

Post count: 2

#7002

Thank you Dr. Corenman for all the helpful information.
I am 30 years old male.
I have Neck and right shoulder pain for about 8 months now after injured from exercise.
Both side of my neck feel tight, but I can turn my neck.
I don’t have numbness and I full range of motion.

I got a MRI and can you please tell me what I need to do to improve my health?
FINDINGS:
The study demonstrates evidence of C3-4 disc disease. There is evidence of left uncovertebral joint disease at this level causing mild left foraminal stenosis. The right foramen appears normal.

C2-3 demonstrates a normal appearnce.
C4-5, C5-6 and C6-7 appear normal
The cervical cord appears normal. The prevertebral soft tissues appear normal. The foramina appear normal.

IMPRESSION:
1. C3-4 degenerative disc disease with left uncoverebral joint disease causing mild left foraminal stenosis.
2. Othersie, normal MRI of the cervical spine without contrast.

What subject(condition) I need to do more research so that I can improve my neck and shoulder pain?

Thank you so much.

Donald Corenman, MD, DC
Moderator

September 24, 2012 at 8:13 am

Post count: 8660

#7003

You note neck and right shoulder pain after an injury from “exercise”. Your neck is “tight” but you indicate full but stiff range of motion. You have no numbness and I assume no weakness. The radiologist noted only C3-4 disc disease with left foraminal stenosis.

Obviously, the MRI (if read correctly) does not correlate with your symptoms. However, degenerative disc disease does not have to produce nerve compression to cause pain into the shoulder.

The differential includes facet pain causing shoulder pain, disc pain that is unilateral (more unusual) and a rotator cuff disorder in the shoulder that radiates pain into the neck (relatively common).

A good physical examination will most likely differentiate between the different disorders. Then, anesthetic blocks of the potential pain generators will be helpful to point to the correct treatment. This is assuming you have already tried and failed a good physical therapy program.

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.

Alwaysontop
Member

September 25, 2012 at 12:35 am

Post count: 2

#7009

Wow Dr. Corenman, that was a super fast reply. Thank you.

I originally injured my right shoulder from exercise. and then I keep on exercise my lower body and left hand. I only weight 135lb and I did 40-50lb bicep curl. I did very heavy bicep curl with left hand. I think that is when I injured my neck. I felt pain in the back of the neck before. but now I mainly feel tight(3-4) on both side of the neck. also, I feel some pain(2-3) on my shoulder blade.

so it could be my right shoulder injuries that cause my neck pain?
so base on the MRI, something else is causing the pain?

Can these traction device help degenerative disc disease?
if yes, which would be better for degenerative disc disease?

Can a TENS unit help?
can a Ultrasound Massager help?

I hope the external links are okay with you. if not, I can remove it. Your website has lots of great information to learn.
Thank you so much for spending your valuable time to help me.
Have a great week.

Sam,

hooperk
Member

November 4, 2013 at 12:09 am

Post count: 1

#9744

Hi Dr. Corenman,
I’m 42 yr female. I had rear end collision aug 26 2013. couple of months ago. went through PT for neck/muscle pain. I was unable to turn head. Muscles got better, pain didn’t. I have had constant headache, blurry vision, and neck/shoulder pain since accident. Headaches are mostly back of head at base of skull, but have sensation of something crawling on my head up over my right eye. Also I have low back pain with shooting pains down back of my right leg. There is also pain deep in my right hip. The pain down my leg gets better when I get up and move, but when I sit down after a few minutes it comes back. I have noticed that my upper arms are weaker and my right leg seams weak. I tend to limp sometimes and have to stop myself. I’m not a pill person and have been taking ibuprofen mostly for headaches, but it never goes away. My GP finally ordered MRI or my neck for headaches, but I won’t see him again for a three weeks.

Mri
c3-c4 minimal posterolateral bulging disc seen without central or foraminal narrowing

subtle encoarachment upon left-sided neural foramina at c4-c5 c5-c6 as a result of facet hypertrophy without central or neural foramina narrowing

c6-c7 minimal broad based posterior protrusion of disc, subtly impresses upon the thecal sac without central canal stenosis. The left nerual foramen appears moderatly narrowed as a result of uncovertbral spurring.

No abnormalities at c7- T4

It has been almost 3 months, I did PT and I am very active. I was an avid tennis player, but I haven’t been able to play because of pain in my neck/shoulders/leg. The MRI results seem minimal to me. I was wondering what treatment you would suggest? Should I demand a nero consult? I didn’t have a GP before accident, cause I don’t have med issues, I just picked this one out.
Thanks for your time
Beth
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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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