We all know to some degree that our spine is the most important part within our body. Some have called the spine the "highway to the body."
This analogy is not far from reality because the spine is the path that reaches through the nerves to the rest of the body. Nerves reach from the tip of the nose to the tip of the toes and the spine sends signals to these nerves through certain canals and nerve exit roots, which creates sensation and motor activity.
Much like a traditional highway, when there are problems, our back does not move as smoothly as expected. In many cases, there is also pain. There are three types of reasons for back pain. The first is congenital problems. Deformities on the spine, including conditions like scoliosis, kyphosis and other bone deformities on the vertebras change the mechanics of the body. These changes result in a variety of back pains. Accidents are the second reason. Incidents like car accidents, falls or other types of trauma injure the back. This could include damage to the joints, ligaments and other structures on the back causing the pain to radiate outwards toward the extremities. The final reason for back pain is degenerative issues. Aging creates changes on the canals of the spine and when those changes occur situations can compromise the nerves. When the main spinal cord is compromised the nerve roots are compromised. When this happens, it results in back pain, numbness, burning, restless legs, tingling and other abnormalities associated with compression on the nerve roots.
Regardless of how your pain originated, the Bonati Spine Procedures can help to eliminate it. How are these procedures different from other back or neck surgeries? They're a completely different type of idea from other procedures offered anywhere else in the world. They are targeted procedures using precision instruments in exactly the place where we believe the problem is to eliminate the pain, rather than conceal it.
In the practice of medicine, physicians are always hoping to get their patients better. Some physicians will change the way they treat patients in the expectations that what they do will create better results. During my training in neurosurgery and orthopaedic surgery, I found that they way we treated patients with spine problems never made me happy. I practically quit my training in neurosurgery because the treatment of our patients was not satisfactory to what my thoughts of results should be. When patients came in with trauma or with damage to the spinal cord, there was little to offer in treatments and the results were really not as expected for any individual to return a normal life. So, I decided I would not practice open spine surgery.
Fortunately, I began training in arthroscopic knee surgery and over time I realized this technique could be used on the back. As I exercised my time using this procedure on the spine, patients started to get better. I developed more techniques and more instruments, now patented and known as the Bonati Spine Procedures. Using conscious IV sedation, these procedures changed the way we treat patients, making them partners in the surgery because they help pinpoint the pain. This technique is tremendous for providing information to the patient, and vice versa, and producing fantastic results.
Currently, 65 percent of our patients come to us from failed back and neck surgeries at other facilities. People don't really understand the feelings of these patients. Many of them are in so much pain, not only physically, but emotionally, psychologically and economically. Even their family members sometimes abandon these patients because they are always complaining, aggressive or demanding. They are not treated properly by other physicians as they are being pumped full of pain medications, anti-depressants and muscle relaxers and their lives are disturbed forever. Since the change in the procedures, nearly 30 years ago, it has been humbling and scary. When you see you can do a procedure within one to two hours and give a person their life back they remember you and want to be your friend forever. You have to control that feeling because while you know you are helping that person, you are responsible for doing everything possible to maximize their health.
We have a 98.75 percent patient satisfaction rate at the Bonati Spine Institute and we are so fortunate to help these patients restore their lives.
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