Spinal fusion surgery for back pain was reviewed in three articles in the Journal of the American Medical Association this week http://cot.ag/bjDgWW . The sobering conclusions were that we are spending up to 10 times more for complicated new surgical procedures and frequently getting worse outcomes and up to twice as many complications.

April 11, 2010 - 1:28pm — Posted by Dr. Norman Marcus

CBS Newswatch distributed a story on the MPDD to CBS affiliate stations around the country. It showed two patients-one who had an unsuccessful spinal fusion in her lower back and one who had been told he needed a spinal fusion in his neck. Both were better after muscles causing their pain were identified with the MPDD and then treated.

April 5, 2010 - 5:08pm — Posted by Dr. Norman Marcus

A review of comprehensive pain treatment textbooks finds no chapters dealing with muscle pain aside from sections on "Myofascial Pain Syndrome” discussing “trigger points” as the defining characteristic of syndromes with painful muscles. This points up a fundamental problem in discussing and understanding clinical muscle pain- the lack of agreed terminology to describe what is found when a painful muscle is examined.

March 22, 2010 - 1:14pm — Posted by Dr. Norman Marcus