Donald Corenman MD DC | Spine Surgeon Colorado

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Naresh
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February 5, 2019 at 10:29 am

Post count: 9

in reply to: Fusion surgery #30113

The most important complaint is getting pins and needles, burning, when i get load on spine like sitting, or travelling, or just doing physiotherapy whenever it streches my lower back it gives same problems. Second is stabbing knife pain in my back when sitting, and it worsens when i sit on a hard surface which doesn’t have any foam like plastic chairs, 60% pain is on the left side and around 40% would be central. Third problem is after walking or standing for 20 mins, my knees starts stiffening and gives pain. My doctor suggests that reducing volume of the disc might improve the stenotic leg pain while walking but it would not resolve the burning and tinglings and stabbing knife pain when it receives load.

Naresh
Participant

July 9, 2018 at 10:49 am

Post count: 9

in reply to: Recurrent Back Pain #28729

This is what microdisectomy does not fix,right? The discogenic pain that arises due to the nucleus pressure or pressure received on annulus during any activity like running, jogging, biking, travelling in a car.

It can only fix the pain which is associated with the outer layers of annulus which has got herniated by removing that portion of disc.

Naresh
Participant

July 9, 2018 at 8:32 am

Post count: 9

in reply to: Recurrent Back Pain #28724

Can you tell me what is the source of the pain coming from annulus? Is it due to the annulus being stretched causes the outer layers to stretch where there is herniation, and that causes pain or is it something else?
And is it related to the other 50℅ discogenic pain that we were talking earlier?

Naresh
Participant

July 8, 2018 at 10:57 am

Post count: 9

in reply to: Recurrent Back Pain #28709

This kind of goes in line with the research i have done from internet. Please correct me if i am wrong.

When a radial annular tear happens inside out but not tearing the outer layers and nucleus stucks into the layers, it gives a discogenic pain and there is no specific known reason for this pain and body does not have any way to heal it and it always remains the same. But when the tear cross the outer layers, where there are very sensitive nerve endings, the nucleus that flows out might irritate these nerves and cause inflammation and hence pain. Hence, in a discectomy, the nucleus and the painful torn outer layers are removed and sealed using RF, which gives relief from this inflammation and reduce pain but the internal tear still remain there and discogenic pain still persists. Discectomy only does half of the work essentially.

If i am right here, i have few questions: how good the sealing of the outer layers is done so that there is not a reherniation again and whats the rate of the reherniation after a discectomy?
How bad can be a discogenic pain? And how to deal with it for lifetime, since i am in my youth now? I believe paracetamol is a medicine which works great to reduce its pain, but would it be fine taking it often whenever there is a heavy pain?
How does it work in disc bulge, because essentially there is not a tear in the outer layers and nucleus does not flow out, and if there is no nucleus flowing out, it would not cause inflammation on the outer sensitive nerve endings, but still a discectomy is prescribed in a disc bulge, how does discectomy work in a disc bulge?

Is there any way, i can send you over my MRI scans, and you can comment on it whether a discectomy would give even a 50℅ relief in my pain?

Naresh
Participant

July 7, 2018 at 11:58 am

Post count: 9

in reply to: Recurrent Back Pain #28702

I have more of a central pain. I am actually very confused here, i see a lot of patients who have leg pain, tingling, etc which means they have an annular tear with a larger herniation which i do not have. I have a herniation which bothers no nerve. Still i see them doing great after a microdisectomy, which in my case would have only 50℅ chances in relieving my pain although my condition is not worse as them.

Naresh
Participant

July 7, 2018 at 8:16 am

Post count: 9

in reply to: Recurrent Back Pain #28698

Hi Doctor,

I still have a good amount of pain in back. Not sure really how it would be relieved. When talking about surgery, are we talking about a discectomy or a fusion? I am just 24, and would not want to have a fusion as it will put more stress on other levels and i might end up having a cascade of surgeries. Would a discectomy help in my case as it is a herniated disc only although it is otherwise quite healthy and not degenerated a lot?
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Viewing 6 posts - 1 through 6 (of 7 total)

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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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Naresh

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