Blog Archive

It surprises some that spine surgeons spend more time helping you avoid surgery than planning for it. As with many fields of medicine, conservative treatments are usually preferable to surgical solutions.  In fact, at Atlas Neurosurgery and Spine Center, we promote spine health awareness with our patients since, ultimately, the...

While the prospect of back surgery may seem like a cause for concern, procedures range from minor to complex. You need to know what to expect before you go under the knife, preparing for your surgery and planning your recovery.  Perhaps the best place to acquire the necessary knowledge is in consultation...

Medical approaches to pain relief usually start with conservative efforts with the lowest impact on your body. If these solutions fail to provide relief, more aggressive treatments enter the picture. Typically, this means stronger medication with higher levels of side effects.  Sometimes, even these treatments fail. Back pain is a...

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that over one-fifth of all American adults suffered from chronic pain at some point in 2021. About 7% have high-impact chronic pain with symptoms that are severe enough to reduce their ability to navigate through an average day significantly.  Dr. Erik...

Neck pain often has a postural or functional source, a problem stemming from muscle and other soft tissue injuries. It can result from trauma, such as a sports injury or a car accident. Various forms of arthritis could also be behind your discomfort.  Since the neck supports your head and...

As many as 2% of Americans may develop herniated spinal discs every year, most commonly in the lumbar region. The lower back typically carries the heaviest loads, leading to herniation, which may also be called a bulging, ruptured, or slipped disc.  Symptoms depend on where the herniated disc occurs and...

May is National Arthritis Awareness Month and a great time to learn more about this debilitating disease and its treatments. A collection of over 100 types of joint conditions, arthritis is the leading cause of disability in the country. While not as high profile as degenerative conditions in the knees or hips,...

Pinched nerves aren’t a single condition, but rather any situation where nerve tissue becomes compressed by surrounding nerves, creating symptoms. You can have pinched nerves in your neck, lower back, hands, legs, or virtually anywhere in the body where tissue like bone, tendons, cartilage, or muscle can press against nerves.  Usually,...

As many as 40% of American adults may have a run-in with sciatic nerve pain. The group of symptoms collectively called sciatica results from irritation of the largest nerve in the body. Any condition that reduces the size of the spinal spaces where the sciatic nerve passes through can irritate the nerve.  This narrowing...

In 2019, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that 39% of American adults suffered from some level of back pain. While it’s a temporary condition for many, about 16 million of them have chronic back pain that’s severe enough to limit regular daily activities.  When back pain...

Back and neck pain result from a wide range of spinal conditions. Fortunately, most heal naturally, although you may need to alter activities and modify aspects of your life in the weeks and months that follow. When it’s successful for you, natural healing is the best course of action.  However,...

Something as simple as too many pillows or an outdated eyeglass prescription can add strain on your neck, which can load your day down with pain. Sometimes, fixing a chronic ache or pain is as easy as making a small change to your routine.  Addressing these things now, when neck pain is...

Herniated discs don’t always cause pain or other symptoms, but the complexity of the spine and its associated structures means there’s always a chance a complication will arise due to displaced disc tissue.  Considering the loads that everyday living places on the lower back, discs in the lumbar region are...

Back pain is one of the leading causes of missed work days in America. Almost 65 million people report a recent experience with back pain. While most recover in a few weeks, around 16 million experience chronic pain that’s serious enough to restrict their daily activities.  A common cause of lower back pain is...

Nerves play several roles in your body, such as processing sensations, controlling muscles, and keeping automatic systems like breathing and heartbeats online. Despite these heavy duties, nerves are delicate and vulnerable to pressure from inflammation or out-of-place tissue. When a nerve becomes inflamed or irritated by this contact, it’s often...

It won’t be long before remote workers staff one-quarter of all jobs in North America. Workers love the flexibility, and employers often see benefits like reduced overhead and productivity increases. If there’s a dark side to the work-from-home trend, it may be the lack of attention to workplace ergonomics.  Despite their name,...

The pillar upon which your body is built, the spine is a complex structure of bone and soft tissue that supports your body while providing a conduit for the nervous system. Nerves branch off of the spinal cord, reaching all parts of your body, reporting sensations, triggering muscle activity, and...

Learning you have a herniated spinal disc and that it’s the cause of your back pain can be disconcerting. However, it’s also possible that you’ve had herniated discs before that produced no symptoms. It’s an internal injury that often repairs itself with little to no treatment. Often, medical care focuses...

Anytime a spinal nerve root is compressed or damaged, the problem is known medically as radiculopathy. In the lumbar region, your lower back, radiculopathy usually affects the sciatic nerve, creating the collection of symptoms commonly known as sciatica.  It’s the most common reason patients contact spine surgeons like our doctors at Atlas Neurosurgery...

Neuroblastomas occurs when immature nerve cells called neuroblasts grow abnormally. Usually, most neuroblasts mature into nerve cells by the time of birth. The remaining neuroblasts typically develop into nerve tissue, but sometimes a tumor called a neuroblastoma forms. While some types of neuroblastomas disappear on their own, many require treatment,...

Virtually everyone suffers from neck pain at some point in time, though it’s usually a short-term concern. When your issue becomes chronic, it can interfere with work, sleep, and many other aspects of daily life.  As neck pain specialists,our team at Atlas Neurosurgery and Spine Center can diagnose and treat...

There are plenty of common names for a herniated disc, including slipped, ruptured, torn, bulging, and leaking. Despite the somewhat violent names, a herniated disc isn’t always a medical problem. You can have one without any observable symptoms before the disc itself heals.  Due to the tight structure of your...

If you’ve suffered back pain recently, you have plenty of company. About 65 million Americans share your plight. One-quarter of them had chronic conditions that kept them from living a normal life.  The good news is that most back pain issues resolve in a matter of weeks with rest and...

As the main support for your head and abdomen, the spine plays a complex role. As well as support, it’s capable of a wide range of motion with remarkable strength and flexibility, all the while protecting the spinal cord.  A remarkable example of bioengineering, the spine endures many demands, usually...

Sciatica is common, affecting up to 40% of the American population. It’s the common name for the medical condition called lumbar radiculopathy and its symptoms can range from mild to disabling.  The good news is that most cases resolve themselves with time and rest, though there are some instances that...

The first evidence of back surgery was found in Egyptian mummies dating back to 3,000 B.C., and Hippocrates described spine issues, including sciatica and scoliosis, more than two millennia after that. There’s a long history of medical knowledge about the spine.  As medical science advanced, we learned more about how...

Nearly 300,000 Americans suffer from some form of pinched nerve every year, with the problem favoring those over 50. Since muscles control touch, movement and automatic functions, signal interruptions due to nerve compression can have far-reaching effects on your health.  When you experience the warning signs, it’s time to visit...

Having good posture when you sit and stand isn’t just about looking good. Your body is built around your spine, which works best when it’s in the position that nature intended. The S shape of the spine permits tremendous range of motion with strength and support for your entire musculoskeletal...

About 1.4 million Americans suffer from traumatic brain injuries (TBI) every year. Many of them will have a neurosurgeon as part of their treatment team, even if they never undergo a surgical procedure for their injury.  While neurosurgeons are the go-to medical practitioners for brain issues, it’s only part of...

Your body is a precisely balanced biomechanical machine, well-suited to a wide range of movement and activities. And it relies on that wide range of movements and activities to stay healthy. It can handle occasional sessions of unusual postures, but when you’re forced to hold these for hours on end,...

Epileptic seizures aren’t the same for every patient. They can vary in severity, symptoms, and duration, and so the disruption caused by them also varies widely. Treatment approaches include control through medication or neurosurgery, which is often successful at stopping seizures altogether.  Atlas Neurosurgery and Spine Center is your go-to...

In the past three months, about one-quarter of American adults reported lower back pain of some type and intensity. It’s one of the most common reasons for missed time on the job. It’s no wonder — when your back hurts, virtually any motion can be uncomfortable, if not excruciating.  Fortunately,...

Though the thought of brain surgery may create impressions of serious, life-threatening procedures for some people, the reality is much different. Contemporary surgical techniques reduce risks for many patients, and brain surgery is no different.  Operating on the brain is just one of the fields covered by neurosurgeons. The team...

There’s a 14-year minimum commitment to post-secondary education for anyone interested in becoming a neurosurgeon, an indication of the complexity of human neurology. You have nerves performing tasks throughout your body, and anytime you have an illness or injury affecting nerves, it may be a neurosurgeon who’s best qualified to...

The most basic definition of a hernia is one type of tissue pushing through another in an abnormal way. A herniated disc in your spinal discs happens when the soft inner tissue presses through a rupture in the damaged outer shell. It’s possible for a herniated disc to occur and...

The sciatic nerve is the source of a range of problems affecting the lower back, buttocks, legs, and feet. It’s the diameter of a man’s thumb at its widest point, as well as the longest nerve in the body. It lends its name to sciatica, a pain condition that causes...

“Pinched nerve” is the common description of what’s medically known as a compressed nerve. Normally functioning nerves have tunnels, passageways, and spaces throughout your body in which to do their work even as you move normally through the day. Surrounding tissue doesn’t typically place unusual pressure on nerves, but injuries...

“No pain, no gain” goes the saying throughout gyms around the country. If you want the benefits of strenuous exercise, you need to accept some level of discomfort that accompanies your exertion. While this is certainly true to some degree, it’s easy to overdo it, and when your lower back...

Aches and pains seem to be the inevitable partner of getting older, even when the medical world assures you that some of these are avoidable. It’s not always clear why some people suffer heavily from conditions like osteoarthritis, for example, while others seem to sidestep symptoms. Like osteoarthritis, herniated discs...

A diagnosis of lumbar radiculopathy may sound rare and strange until you learn that it’s the medical term for the condition commonly called sciatica, a compression of the spinal nerve root originating in the lumbar vertebrae. It’s a common complaint, one of the most frequent reasons people contact neurosurgeons. Lumbar radiculopathy...

One of the most important contributors to the success of any surgery is successful recovery. This holds true for any procedure on your vertebrae or spinal cord. The length of your recovery depends both on the type of procedure and the scope of the surgical changes. Your success begins when...

Facing a nerve block as a treatment for pain or inflammation can fill many patients with dread. There are thoughts of big needles and a procedure that’s almost as painful as the condition. However, contemporary nerve block techniques aren’t like that at all. Consisting of local anesthetics and corticosteroids, nerve...

Calling lower back pain an epidemic isn’t an exaggeration. About 80% of adult Americans will likely experience back pain at some point in their lives, and more than 25% of those surveyed reported recent problems (within the last three months). The economic impact of lower back pain is huge, both...

Causing 83 million missed workdays every year, back pain is both a medical and economical drain. About 16 million Americans have persistent or chronic back pain serious enough to limit their ability to get through the day. Direct and indirect costs due to back pain could top $12 billion annually....

Neck pain is a common complaint for adult Americans, particularly those over 50, but in most cases it’s usually short-lived and minor. There’s often no need to see a doctor, since the pain responds to rest and home care. However, there are times when neck pain becomes chronic. In fact,...

Are you carrying some extra pounds around your middle? Do the pants that fit you last year feel tight this year? Are the numbers on your scale going up? If you’re struggling with weight gain, you’re not alone. Nearly three out of four Americans are overweight or obese, according to...

When your neurologist at Atlas Neurosurgery and Spine Center tells you that you have cervical radiculopathy, you might be quite concerned that you’ve got something serious. Having a pinched nerve in your neck, on the other hand, doesn’t seem so intense. However, the effects of cervical radiculopathy can be painful,...

Did you know that nerves are a type of cell? Nerve cells act as messengers to send messages to the brain and to help us interact with the world, according to a study published by the Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care. Some nerves affect your voluntary and...

No one likes pain, but it serves an important purpose — to prevent injury. However, when it comes to nerve pain, this typically isn't the case.  Here at Atlas Neurosurgery and Spine Center, located in Phoenix and Sun City West, Arizona, Drs. Abhishiek Sharma and Erik Curtis and our highly...

You may be surprised to find out that lower leg pain isn't always caused by a leg issue. Nerve damage and herniated discs in the spine often occur in adults that lead a sedentary lifestyle or lift heavy loads regularly. Other risk factors include having poor posture or biomechanics, being...

That achy stiffness you’re experiencing might be more than just a “pain in the neck.” It could actually be cervical spondylosis — but the good news is, there are steps you can take to help relieve it. Here at Atlas Neurosurgery and Spine Center in Phoenix and Sun City West,...

Surgery of any kind should never be taken lightly, but when it holds the potential of relieving treatment-resistant pain, this avenue may be the wisest choice. And thanks to ever-evolving surgical technology, the minimally invasive approach to spine surgery means that your road to pain-free movement is a lot smoother....