Collaborating with Surgeons

who would have thought

Surgeons and chiropractors working together. Yup! That is my plan and I am slowly executing it to a T. In the end, my goal is quite simple and has remained steadfast: to improve patient outcomes!

For those of you that have noticed that I been away this fall, I hope you can forgive me. I have been working to improve spine education through my spine models to both let spine surgeons and other professionals know what we as chiropractors do to diagnose and treat spine problems.

This above picture was taken at the American Academy of Pain Management Meeting in Phoenix a few weeks back. I also attended the Congress of Neurological Surgeons as well as the North American Spine Society which had 3500 spine surgeons. This last show was very exciting. Many spine surgeons are now understanding more so what we do as chiropractors.

One of the most interesting interactions is with minimally invasive spine surgeons. I even had one dictate to me over the phone what he sees by way of colours in the spine during surgery. One of the unique things they do is stain the nucleus blue of the disc. The nucleus is an acidic substance that stains uniquely because of its low oxygen content. The surgeon wants me to build a custom model with extra detail of granulation tissue.

One of the things these surgeons look for when they are exploring for pain generators in the spine is this granulation tissue. And it looks just like this but on a smaller scale. This is often the pain source in so many spine pain problems. The key is to stop aggravating it and that is something we can do. Chiropractic adjustments as well as modification of spinal behaviour can make these little red spots heal.

In spinal health,

Dr. Jerome Fryer (hons)
250-753-5351