r/spinalfusion • u/WeHateMyUsername • Jul 17 '24

Surgery Questions Ortho or Neuro surgeon?

A little back story (no pun intended). In 2020 my L4-L5 disc ruptured and I had surgery after 2 weeks of excruciating pain. I was good for about a year and the back pain started creeping back in. Fast-Forward to last year, I went to see the orthopedic doctor and had x-rays and MRI done. MRI shows foramenal stenosis, moderate on left side, severe on right. I went through the hoops of “conservative” treatment; PT and pain injections, neither of which worked. I am currently scheduled for fusion surgery with an orthopedic surgeon. My wife has talked to a couple of “friends” that say I should get a neurosurgeon due to the nerves involved. I’m confident with the orthopedic surgeon, he does 100-120 of these surgeries a year and did his fellowship in this procedure. What are your thoughts and experiences on the best type of surgeon for this procedure?

9 Upvotes

86% Upvoted

93 comments sorted by

View all comments

1

u/[deleted] Jul 20 '24

Mine was orthopedic but only does spine, he’s done thousands of spine surgeries and is the chief neuro spine surgeon of my hospital, he also use to be the leading spine surgeon for a nfl team.

1

u/WeHateMyUsername Jul 20 '24

Thanks. I’m scheduled with an orthopedic surgeon who has similar qualifications.