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Atlas Neurosurgery and Spine Center Blog View all posts

5 Reasons Why Spine Surgery Is Your Best Treatment Option
While spine surgery is usually a last resort treatment used when conservative therapies prove ineffective, there are situations ideally suited for surgery with high success rates. Choosing minimally invasive surgery improves recovery time.
Jan 19th, 2023

Keep It Simple: 4 Simple Life Changes to Relieve Neck Pain
Neck pain is, well, a pain in the neck. Yet, with a few simple changes to your lifestyle, you can greatly reduce your suffering. It’s a matter of identifying — then altering — some of the bad habits you’ve developed along the way.
Dec 12th, 2022

What Are the Signs of a Herniated Disk? 3 Telltale Symptoms
While any spinal disc could suffer herniation — where the disc’s gel-like inner core escapes — this injury usually occurs in the lumbar region of the lower back. There are three common telltale symptoms that can tip you off to the problem.
Nov 1st, 2022

When to Consider Lumbar Laminectomy for Lower Back Pain
Lower back pain is one of the most common medical complaints, and while it can often resolve on its own, chronic pain conditions can develop. When nerve passageways through the spine narrow, lumbar laminectomy may be the answer.
Oct 1st, 2022

6 Symptoms of a Pinched Nerve
Nerves are delicate. When nearby tissue presses on or irritates a nerve, you might experience a wide range of symptoms. There may be pain at the site of the pinched nerve or weakness downstream from the nerve.
Sep 1st, 2022

Is Working from Home a Pain in Your Neck?
The best part of working from home is choosing where you work. On the flip side, your couch isn’t designed for long hours bent over a laptop. Ergonomics matter. And they play a significant role when your neck starts to hurt.
Aug 1st, 2022

What Causes Cervical Radiculopathy?
The condition you might call a pinched nerve in your neck is known in the medical field as cervical radiculopathy. It can result in pain, numbness, and weakness from the point of compression to anywhere along a nerve’s path. Here’s why it happens.
Jul 1st, 2022

5 Nonsurgical Treatments for Lumbar Radiculopathy
You know the symptoms of lumbar radiculopathy as sciatica, a painful lower back problem that can affect you anywhere along the sciatic nerve’s path. Surgery is necessary only in very few cases. Here are five nonsurgical treatments for the condition.
May 1st, 2022

Surgery for Neuroblastoma: What to Expect
Like many other tissues in the body, nerves can develop cancer. Neuroblastoma usually occurs in or around the adrenal glands, but it can occur in other places, too. You’ll need to know what to expect if your child requires surgery.
Apr 1st, 2022

Can Acupuncture Help My Neck Pain?
Chronic neck pain can be challenging to treat, and surgical solutions are best left as a last resort if conservative methods fail. Before agreeing to surgery, consider acupuncture, an alternative treatment that often produces good results
Mar 1st, 2022

How is a Herniated Disc Treated?
The cushioning discs between the bones of the spine act as both movement points and shock absorbers for your body. As such, they sometimes bear extreme loads and they may rupture, a condition called herniation. Here’s how they’re treated.
Feb 6th, 2022

Risk Factors for Sciatica
Your sciatic nerves are major branches off the spinal cord, running the length of each leg. Nerve compression at the spine can cause pain, strength, and sensation issues anywhere along the length of the nerve.
Nov 1st, 2021

How Spine Surgery Has Changed Over the Years
There’s evidence that spine surgery has a history dating back over 5,000 years. That’s a lot of sore backs over the centuries, and it’s not surprising that procedures and techniques are much different today.
Oct 4th, 2021

Warning Signs of a Pinched Nerve
If you’ve never experienced a pinched nerve, you may think it sounds like no big deal. But, nerve compression can bring your life to a standstill, causing weakness, numbness, or pain in various parts of your body.
Aug 2nd, 2021

Here's Why Posture Really Matters
When they told you to sit up straight in grade school, it may not have seemed important then, but with adult aches and pains beginning to affect you, it takes on new importance. Here’s why posture is a gift you give yourself.
Jul 1st, 2021

Myths and Facts About Neurosurgery
Some people equate the terms neurosurgery and brain surgery. However, a neurosurgeon treats more than your brain. Contrary to what many think, a neurosurgeon doesn’t only practice in an operating theater.
Jun 15th, 2021

How to Combat Tech Neck
Call it tech neck or text neck, it’s the same thing, and it’s a pain no matter how you look at it. Using contemporary technology forces your head forward and the resulting posture creates dangerous loads on your cervical spine.
May 10th, 2021

How Neurosurgery Can Address Epilepsy
During an episode of epilepsy, a person experiences abnormal brain activity that can affect their senses and behavior. Often controlled with medication, there are some forms of epilepsy that respond well to neurosurgical procedures.
Apr 13th, 2021

Common Causes of Lower Back Pain
The most common reason for time off work and for a doctor’s visit is back pain. Virtually everyone suffers from it at some point in their lives, even if it’s only for a short time. For some, though, back pain is recurrent or chronic.
Mar 8th, 2021

Who's At Risk for Brain Surgery?
Brain surgery isn’t a single procedure, and the reasons it’s necessary vary widely. The type of procedure a patient needs depends heavily on not only the cause of the problem but also the state of progress of their conditio
Feb 16th, 2021

Who is a Candidate for Neurosurgery?
It’s a common mistake to think that neurosurgery is “just” brain related. You may see a neurosurgeon any time that you have an injury or disease affecting nerves. Neurosurgery, therefore, treats all parts of your body from head to toe.
Jan 21st, 2021

Is My Disc Herniated?
Back pain is a common problem — a majority of Americans experiencing it at some point in their lives. Herniated discs are frequently the cause, pressing on nerve tissue and creating pain. They might be the reason behind your neck or back pain.
Dec 8th, 2020

Understanding the Sciatic Nerve
Many people blame the sciatic nerve for their back pain, and while it may be the culprit, it can also cause issues anywhere along its length, from the lower back to your feet. Here’s what you need to know.
Nov 10th, 2020

Help! I Pinched a Nerve
It might be pain, it might be numbness, tingling, or weakness, but the symptoms of pinched nerves are rarely welcome. Compression or irritation interferes with the nerve’s normal function, and several areas in your body are particularly vulnerable.
Oct 7th, 2020

Overexercise and Back Pain: When Workouts Cause Problems
A certain degree of pain accompanies some forms of exercise, and this can include back pain. However, there’s a difference between “good” and “bad” pain, and your back is one place where lingering pain is problematic.
Sep 8th, 2020

Aging and Herniated Discs: What's the Link?
Generally, your chances of experiencing a herniated disc in your spine increase with age, since disc degeneration often results from the wear and tear of daily living. Just as your skin loses moisture, so do spinal discs.
Aug 19th, 2020

7 Treatments for Lumbar Radiculopathy
Chronic lower back pain often stems from nerve irritation due to ruptured disks or other narrowing of spaces through which these nerves pass. This condition is called lumbar radiculopathy and it may need multifaceted treatment.
Jul 21st, 2020

Recovering from Spine Surgery: What to Expect
An operation on your spine, even a minor one, is a significant procedure. Recovery times can be long if bone tissue needs to heal, so following your surgeon’s after-surgery care instructions could help you keep your healing time short.
Jun 11th, 2020

Everything You Need to Know About Nerve Blocks
Even if you’re not fond of needles, it’s worth putting your fears aside for nerve block injections for chronic pain. You could experience months-long pain relief, reducing your need to take opioid medications or delaying major surgery.
May 12th, 2020

5 Ways You’re Making Your Back Pain Worse
There’s usually a combination of reasons why you develop back pain, and there’s a very good chance you will, since four out of five American adults experience it sometime in their lives. Some everyday conditions may be adding to your back pain risk.
Apr 27th, 2020

When Does Neck Pain Necessitate Medical Intervention?
Neck pain affects virtually everyone at some point in their lives, and usually, it’s not a serious condition. Soft tissue strains repair themselves in a few days, but there are times when the situation or symptoms require medical intervention.
Feb 12th, 2020

How Weight Affects Your Spine
Excess weight isn’t just a cosmetic issue. Being overweight or obese, especially when you carry fat around your waist, can cause painful back strain. Learn how weight can impact your spine health.
Jan 1st, 2020

Cervical Radiculopathy: A Large Pain in the Neck
Cervical radiculopathy is better known as a pinched nerve, in this case originating in one of the seven vertebrae of the cervical spine. Nerve irritation originating at the spine radiates pain and other sensations along the nerve path.
Dec 1st, 2019

Top Signs You May Have a Pinched Nerve
Is your arm or foot tingling? Pins and needles are just one of the signs of a pinched nerve. Read on to explore the tops signs you may have a pinched nerve.
Nov 1st, 2019

How Does Nerve Pain Differ from Other Kinds of Pain?
Nerve pain typically involves a confusion in the messaging system that runs along the nerves between the brain and body. Causes range from an orthopedic condition to a larger health issue, like cancer or HIV. A variety of treatments can help.
Oct 1st, 2019

Your Neck Pain Could Actually Be Neck Arthritis
Is your neck sore or stiff? If so, it may be arthritis. Fortunately, there are a number of treatments available for this very common problem, including physical therapy, medications, cortisone injections, and surgery.
Aug 14th, 2019