I spent much of this weekend at the UCHSC (Fitzsimmons) medical library. If you're looking to probe a medical topic to the depths, you can't spend the day in a nicer place. The new Health Sciences Center (owned by the State of Colorado) has given Coloradans a valuable resource. It's comfortable and state-of-the-art. While at the library I obtained over 150 articles on pulsed magnetic field therapy. In future posts I'll share the highlights from many of these studies. Stay tuned! There's good news (in the scientific literature) for those with fibromyalgia, insomnia, arthritis pain (from the neck to the knees), osteoporosis, non-healing ulcers and wounds, delayed fracture healing, back pain, and other common problems. If you're a patient at The Center for Spine Pain, perhaps you're already quite familiar with the health-enhancing effects of pulsed magnetic field therapy. Whether you're a patient or not, you're invited to post a question, submit an anecdote, and contribute to the discussion of pulsed magnetic fields.
One thing's for sure: 10 years from now energy medicine will have a central role in the way people take care of themselves, get healthy, stay healthy, and live longer.
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Monday, December 24, 2007
Merry Christmas to all!
...and to all a good night! It's after 1:00 am on Christmas Eve Day. I've just answered an email from "Tom" who's having back and neck pain with some radiating numbness down his leg. Tom was interested in non-surgical spinal decompression, so I invited him to check out the spinal decompression link at our clinic website. If you're interested, it's listed in the links at the top of this screen on the right-hand side.
I hope I'll get a chance to meet Tom face to face. There's a lot of docs out there "selling" non-surgical spinal decompression to people who really don't need it. My advice: find a trusted spine specialist and try everything else first (with the exception of injections or surgery -- these should be the very last resort!) Non-surgical spinal decompression should be reserved for those who are heading down the path to surgery and who probably would not recover any other way. By raising the bar for patient's to qualify for decompression my colleagues and I are striving -- honestly, ethically and affordably -- to provide this effective form of therapy to those who truly need it. I can't count the number of times people have come to the clinic asking for spinal decompression and, after a good physical examination, were recommended for simpler, less expensive care instead -- and it worked!
The ironic thing is that spinal decompression REALLY DOES WORK WELL. It has fallen out of favor in some circles is because it was overmarketed, oversold, and overpriced by some of the doctors using it. I estimate that by providing this effective treatment for disc herniations The Center for Spine Pain has saved the health care system at least $1m in just this last year alone (and probably twice that). How? By helping patients who were headed for spine surgery to NOT need spine surgery. If you take 20 patients at an average cost of $65k per surgery, that's $1.3m right there. We helped many more than 20 patients this year. It's no wonder that our spine surgeon friends who used to love us for referring 3-4 surgeries per month are no longer as friendly. And this is why you'll generally get a stern frown from your medical doctor if you ask about spinal decompression. Many of my medical colleagues have been cautioned to positively THWART any patient who mentions that they are considering a non-surgical form of disc care once a spinal injection has failed (as they do 7 or 8 times out of 10). The bottom line issue: these are turf wars. Unfortunately money drives the machine. How many millions might be saved nationwide if spinal decompression was covered by insurance -- on equal footing with surgery? What back or neck pain sufferer, in their right mind, wouldn't try spinal decompression first?
If it were a level playing field I'm quite sure I wouldn't be able to build clinics fast enough. That's because the people who try us -- like us! And we are grateful! Merry Christmas! Time for some eggnog!
I hope I'll get a chance to meet Tom face to face. There's a lot of docs out there "selling" non-surgical spinal decompression to people who really don't need it. My advice: find a trusted spine specialist and try everything else first (with the exception of injections or surgery -- these should be the very last resort!) Non-surgical spinal decompression should be reserved for those who are heading down the path to surgery and who probably would not recover any other way. By raising the bar for patient's to qualify for decompression my colleagues and I are striving -- honestly, ethically and affordably -- to provide this effective form of therapy to those who truly need it. I can't count the number of times people have come to the clinic asking for spinal decompression and, after a good physical examination, were recommended for simpler, less expensive care instead -- and it worked!
The ironic thing is that spinal decompression REALLY DOES WORK WELL. It has fallen out of favor in some circles is because it was overmarketed, oversold, and overpriced by some of the doctors using it. I estimate that by providing this effective treatment for disc herniations The Center for Spine Pain has saved the health care system at least $1m in just this last year alone (and probably twice that). How? By helping patients who were headed for spine surgery to NOT need spine surgery. If you take 20 patients at an average cost of $65k per surgery, that's $1.3m right there. We helped many more than 20 patients this year. It's no wonder that our spine surgeon friends who used to love us for referring 3-4 surgeries per month are no longer as friendly. And this is why you'll generally get a stern frown from your medical doctor if you ask about spinal decompression. Many of my medical colleagues have been cautioned to positively THWART any patient who mentions that they are considering a non-surgical form of disc care once a spinal injection has failed (as they do 7 or 8 times out of 10). The bottom line issue: these are turf wars. Unfortunately money drives the machine. How many millions might be saved nationwide if spinal decompression was covered by insurance -- on equal footing with surgery? What back or neck pain sufferer, in their right mind, wouldn't try spinal decompression first?
If it were a level playing field I'm quite sure I wouldn't be able to build clinics fast enough. That's because the people who try us -- like us! And we are grateful! Merry Christmas! Time for some eggnog!
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