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Donald Corenman, MD, DC
Moderator

March 27, 2011 at 8:11 am

Post count: 8660

in reply to: herniated disc L5/S1 Surgery #4455

UCSF is a good place but be careful that your surgery is done by the attending surgeon and not the fellow. If you were interested, I would be happy to take a look at you but you would have to come to Vail.

Good Luck!

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.

Donald Corenman, MD, DC
Moderator

March 26, 2011 at 8:07 pm

Post count: 8660

in reply to: herniated disc L5/S1 Surgery #4453

Boy- that answer would require an entire book but I will give you the “readers digest” version. Disc or facet pain can commonly be managed by core strengthening exercises and ergonomics. Core strengthening will stiffen the lower back, reducing the stress on the damaged discs. Ergonomics is the appropriate way to lift, bend and exercise to reduce load on the spine. Medications can be useful and losing weight can also help. Losing weight will reduce load on the spine but I can tell you that in Vail Colorado, there are many fit and skinny patients that suffer from lower back pain, so weight loss is not a major factor.

I know it won’t help right now but in about 2 months- I will have a new book out “Everything you wanted to know about the back” and this will allow you understand all the factors for your lower back.

I am a fan of Pilates for strengthening the spine. Be careful as some instructors may be overly aggressive in the beginning, but this would be a good place to start after you rehab from surgery.

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.

Donald Corenman, MD, DC
Moderator

March 25, 2011 at 10:44 pm

Post count: 8660

in reply to: herniated disc L5/S1 Surgery #4451

Your symptoms are consistent with a disc herniation compressing the nerve root. When you bend forward to tie your shoes, you flex your hip. This tensions the sciatic nerve which causes more compression of the nerve root. It does sound like you need a microdiscectomy. There is one study that indicates that patients who undergo surgery performed within six months of the herniation do better than ones who wait. Nonetheless- I think you should be happy with the results of surgery. Could there be some residual symptoms after surgery? Possibly- but don’t hesitate to undergo surgery.

The only worry I have is your lower back pain. Normally, a disc herniation compressing the nerve root will cause buttocks, thigh and leg pain. Lower back pain is generated by the disc or facet. If your percentage of low back pain is equal or greater than your leg pain, low back pain may not completely go away with a microdiscectomy.

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.

Donald Corenman, MD, DC
Moderator

March 22, 2011 at 8:23 am

Post count: 8660

in reply to: CRPS/RSD #4449

A pleasure to talk with you again. The spine itself is not related to RSD/CRPS (reflex sympathetic dystrophy/ complex regional pain syndrome) but does carry the fibers of the sympathetic nervous system that is thought to be the cause of these disorders. The autonomic nervous system as you know contains two parts, the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems. The sympathetic system goes through the cord and exits in the thoracic spine (T1-T12). Any injury, from a simple contusion to a fracture (to a spine injury) can cause the onset of these syndromes. The “why” has not been elucidated yet.

There is a theory that the pain signals are carried by afferent tracts (sensory tracts) of the sympathetic nervous system that have yet to be discovered by medicine. Heretofore, the sympathetic nervous system was thought to carry only efferent tracts (a one way pathway from the brain to the target organs). The reason the sensory tracts are thought to exist is that an anesthetic block of one of the sympathetic ganglia temporarily stops the pain. This should not happen if this was only a brain to body tract.

I know you are involved with fundraising for research to uncover the causes and find solutions and I applaud you for that. If I can be of any service- please let me know.

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.

Donald Corenman, MD, DC
Moderator

March 22, 2011 at 4:33 am

Post count: 8660

in reply to: Cervical Fusion Surgery?? #4448

It does not appear that your surgeon is doing this surgery for nerve root compression but for spinal cord compression. If the nerve root only was compressed- you would have more arm pain and possibly weakness of that arm.

The radiologist stated that you have “myelopathy” which is really a clinical diagnosis (diagnosed by symptoms and physical examination- not by MRI). Most likely, he meant that you have spinal cord compression and myelomalacia. If this is true, then your spinal cord is under compression and needs to be surgically decompressed. If this is the case, I would agree that surgery is most likely warrented.

Spinal cord injury from trauma, compression or any other cause does not heal well and surgery is normally recommended.

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.

Donald Corenman, MD, DC
Moderator

March 20, 2011 at 1:57 am

Post count: 8660

in reply to: c5-6 disc herniation #4446

I assume your symptoms are bilaterally equal (left arm equals right arm). The way to understand how symptoms are generated is to look at what is present in the examination and imaging and compare to what symptoms would be expected by the imaging. Your symptoms are diffuse. A herniated disc at C5-6 left would cause left neck, posterior shoulder and arm pain radiating to the thumb side of the hand, made worse with bending the head back or to the left and improved with right bending. It would not cause right arm pain.

The C2-3 protrusion I assume is not compressing the spinal cord as that would be very unusual. This disc should cause no symptoms other that upper neck pain and occasionally headaches.

The reversal of the cervical curve is normally a result of degenerative disc disease or antalgia (pain from positioning). It is not a cause of symptoms by itself.

If your symptoms are so diffuse, you could have a condition like polymyalgia rheumatica or fibromyalgia but normally fibromyalgia has leg symptoms too. It is a possibility that you have diffuse degenerative disc disease in the neck causing significant neck pain and you are developing somatization syndrome.

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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Viewing 6 posts - 8,647 through 8,652 (of 8,659 total)

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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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