Donald Corenman MD DC | Spine Surgeon Colorado

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DaniS
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March 25, 2016 at 1:52 pm

Post count: 3

in reply to: Complication of surgery? #21708

Hi Dr. Corenman,

I was hoping I would be able to give you a positive update however, unfortunately this is not the case – my husband has been for the nerve conduction study (the nerve root block was cancelled due to the pain no longer being an issue). As far as we can find out at the moment (from the physio) the S1 nerve showed damage, explaining the lack of response with his ankle, however we were told the rest of the nerves show up as fine (we have only had 2 minutes of vague information). We are now 3 months post op and his knee still buckles at every step and it is not improving – they have him attending the physio twice weekly to go on gym equipment but after more than a month he feels that there is no improvement and that his “good leg” is doing all the work – if he removes his good leg the left “bad” leg cannot hold weight or move weight. The physio has said that seeing the NCS showed no damage to the other nerves then the prognosis in his and the consultants opinion was good – I do not know how they can say this – am I missing something? We are supposed to be getting an appointment to see the consultant soon (we haven’t seen him since around 4 weeks post op on the ward), are there any suggestions you can give me to ask him when we see him to try and get some answers or further tests?

Many thanks

Dani

DaniS
Participant

February 7, 2016 at 5:51 pm

Post count: 3

in reply to: Complication of surgery? #21286

Hi, Thank you for your reply, My husband was pain free for a day or so post surgery followed by an increase in pain which seems to have resolved at the moment. The weakness and buckling is new – he had slight but barely noticeable weakness and numbness on both sides of his foot pre-op but was still running up and down ladders with 8-12 bricks at a time. The overall weakness is totally new and developed over the first 2 weeks post-op which is why I wondered if it was a complication that you had seen before. They have not mentioned that the L3-4 bulge is bad enough that they would expect symptoms (would this not be first thing they would suspect) During his extra stay at hospital 3-4 weeks post-op they mentioned seeing debris, bubbles and finally a little scarring- they starved him for 3 days of the 8 day stay telling him they would be going back to operate again but changed their minds repeatedly. According to the GP the first operation is a resounding success as he seems to be pain free in his leg but it is simply not that clear cut for us.

He has Physio on on the 16th Feb, a nerve root block booked for the 23rd Feb and NCS booked for the 29th Feb. Can you advise me on the questions we should be asking or information we should be looking out for. I am concerned that it will not be figured out before the damage is irreparable. Would it be a bad idea to ask for some kind of knee brace to help lock his leg so he can walk without crutches? This is a huge deal to us and my husband is not taking this very well and really regrets getting the op done in the first place as now he is unable to do much without a lot of difficulty – he can’t even drive anywhere as we have a manual car so we are not insured because of the weak knee.

I really appreciate you sharing your knowledge and experience here as you do, to help people like us understand the jargon and such a little better.

Many Thanks

Dani
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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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DaniS

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