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| Photo: (c) Adam Ciesielski |
When you go to your family physician for relentless back and leg pain, you may get a referral to a spine surgeon. But are you sure you and your doctors are on the same page about what to expect from back surgery? A new study may shed some light.
The study presented scenarios to both family docs and spine surgeons and asked at what point surgery would be the treatment of choice. I found it interesting that the spine surgeons were the most conservative bunch. They said that if the patient has more leg pain than back pain, that's when they would consider surgery. This is most likely because leg pain usually means a nerve root is affected.
In contrast to surgeons' preferences, patients and family doctors had a higher preference for surgery. When patients have neurological symptoms, and/or impaired walking and lots of pain, the family physician tend to prefer surgery. The researchers suggest that family doctors may not have a grasp on which factors contribute to good outcomes in back surgery.
Source:
Press Release. Surgeons Less Likely than Family Doctors to Prefer Back Surgery. Newswise. Jan 28 10.
| Types of Spine Doctors | Back Pain | Back Surgery |
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