Donald Corenman MD DC | Spine Surgeon Colorado

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aftrshok99
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July 6, 2017 at 8:53 am

Post count: 4

in reply to: MRI Results, Muscle Weakness and Atrophy #25426

One more question and a little update.

I finished physical therapy 4 weeks ago and they cleared me because some of my strength was coming back. We decided to go back to doing the things I did prior to having the herniation and see how I react to it. I know my chest and tricep is weak so I started lifting with light weights. I’ve noticed over the last 2 weeks that I’m loosing my strength again and also anytime I push on something my tricep will spasm and if I reach or do certain movements my chest will also spasm. During my last week of PT I could do a few pushups but now I can’t even do one.

I have some pain under my shoulder blade and my neck bothers me from time to time but nothing I’d complain about. I also have the numbness in my index and middle finger but i’ve gotten so used to it that I don’t always notice it.

So my question is this: Do you think I still have nerve compression and the only way to fix it is by surgery? I thought I was getting better but now that I’m more active I’m getting worse. Just not sure what to do and where to go from here.

Thanks!!!

aftrshok99
Participant

June 4, 2017 at 10:08 am

Post count: 4

in reply to: MRI Results, Muscle Weakness and Atrophy #25137

Donald Corenman, MD, DC wrote:

If you feel like you are worse and have developed greater muscle weakness, you should consider surgery to decompress the nerve root. The rhomboid major and minor and trapezius muscles are the muscles that are not firing. These muscles are connected to the brain by cranial nerves (trapezius) and the C5 nerve (rhomboid major and minor) so involvement of C7 should not cause this weakness.

Dr. Corenman

My PT and I talked about my weakness Friday and she said I’m not getting any stronger and am getting weaker as the weeks go on.

Between Resistant band and light dumbbell exercises I did 300 reps (10 exercises, 30 reps each) I wasn’t the least bit sore or where my muscles tired. I should be sore because it wasn’t easy doing those exercises and I had to work hard on my chest and tricep ones. I also still don’t have any pain to speak of, this concerns me but maybe that is normal for some people?

With the major and minor rhomboid muscles atrophying could that be caused a disk bulge slightly touching my spinal cord? Would I not have any other symptoms if it was touching it? Would I not have any pain if that was the case?

Sorry for the questions, this is all just a little scary for me.

Thanks again,
Brian

aftrshok99
Participant

May 29, 2017 at 4:03 pm

Post count: 4

in reply to: MRI Results, Muscle Weakness and Atrophy #24985

Thanks for replying Dr. Corenman.

My motor strength after 6 sessions (3 weeks) of PT and doing things at home hasn’t improved at all and in fact seems to be getting worse. I’ve always been strong but I just can’t make my chest, tricep and apparently some muscles between my shoulder blade and arm pit work no matter now hard I try.

Again for the most part I am pain free expect for this restless leg syndrome in my arm (that’s what I call it) and the slight numbness I described in my initial post.

Here is an update from my PT session this past Friday:
Ok PT update, did all the usual stuff but they added a new thing in which revealed something. She had me lie on my stomach with my arms at my side, shoulders flat on table and try to touch my shoulder blades together. I thought I was doing it and she said nope, your right one isn’t moving. She got to feeling both sides and had two other PT’s look at it just to double check. Without touching me they both could see it, one put her hands back there and had me try it again. Nope didn’t work…They said you can see the indention between my shoulder blade and arm pit, the muscle right there has severely atrophied and isn’t working at all. They seem to think that there is nothing left they can do sense I don’t seem to be gaining any strength back. If i hold my arm straight out and try to flex my tricep, it barely flexes and is mushy feeling to the touch.
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Viewing 3 posts - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)

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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aftrshok99

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