Back Talk: Spine Health Blog

Degenerative and isthmic spondylolisthesis share a name, not a cause. Dr. Jihoon Choi explains the pars, the listhesis, and why the surgery differs.

Adult degenerative scoliosis is a curve that develops in adulthood, not childhood.

Central cord syndrome weakens the arms more than the legs.

Your first spine surgery consultation, step by step: the history, the exam, the imaging review, and the decision talk.

Four major guidelines on low back pain — NASS, ACP, VA/DoD, and JAMA — agree more than they differ.

Herniation, protrusion, bulging, extrusion, annular fissure — Dr.

Sleep position and pillow height decide whether the spine rests in its neutral line or is held bent and rotated for hours.

Two weeks of physical therapy is not a trial of physical therapy.

Hip disease and spine disease refer pain into the same territory.

Swallowing difficulty is a common early finding after ACDF.

How long you are off work after spine surgery depends on the operation and the job.

Spondylolisthesis is not automatically unstable. Five factors are weighed together: motion on flexion–extension views, facet orientation, disc height, facet fluid, cysts.

Your MRI report can sound alarming — degeneration, bulges, stenosis. Why those findings are common in people with no pain, and which ones actually matter.

Can sitting too long cause back pain? What the research actually found, what makes long sitting hurt, and what helps.

Nicotine, blood sugar, weight, nutrition, and bone quality — the factors a patient can improve before elective spine surgery.

Shoulder pain that won't quit may be coming from your neck. The patterns that separate the two.

Will your spinal hardware set off the airport metal detector? The answer depends on the machine.

Titanium, cobalt-chromium, PEEK, and carbon fiber — what spinal hardware is made of, and why stiffness matters.

Microdiscectomy, laminectomy, or fusion — what the studies measured, why surgeons disagree, and the conditions that matter.

The ache from long screen sessions. What the research actually found about posture, and what helps.

The foot slaps, catches, and trips. What causes it, and what decides whether strength returns.

Pain, numbness, or weakness in a pattern can point toward a nerve root.

When a spinal fusion does not knit into solid bone — pseudarthrosis — pain can return.

Yes — a disc can herniate again after microdiscectomy. How often it happens, what returning leg pain means, and what is done next.

A tear in the membrane around the nerves, explained: how a dural tear is repaired during surgery, what a spinal fluid leak feels like, and how it heals.

Arm weakness after neck surgery: what C5 palsy is, why it happens even when the operation goes well, and how recovery usually unfolds.

Buttock pain that shoots down the leg — is it piriformis syndrome or sciatica? How to tell them apart, what helps each, and when to get checked.

Threw your back out? What a lumbar strain actually is, what to do in the first 48 hours, and the red flags that mean it is more than a strain.

A herniation outside the spinal canal pinches the exiting nerve root — a different pain pattern than the typical disc herniation, and an elegant minimally invasive fix.

Leg pain that arrives with walking and eases with rest has two very different causes — a spine problem or a circulation problem. How to tell them apart, and why getting it right matters.

An extra-long bone at the base of your spine — and pain dismissed as "incidental." What transitional anatomy means and when it hurts.

New pain years after a successful fusion? What the evidence shows about wear at neighboring levels — and what to do about it.

Spondylosis, stenosis, spondylolisthesis — the spine words that sound alike but mean very different things, translated into plain language.

Artificial disc or ACDF fusion? How each operation works, who qualifies for disc replacement, what recovery really looks like, and how the choice gets made.

Cervical myelopathy means the spinal cord itself is compressed. The subtle symptoms, why waiting can cost permanent function, and how it's treated.

Persistent myths about spinal fusion — motion loss, adjacent segment disease, age limits — and what the evidence actually says.

Lumbar fusion recovery month by month: hospital stay, BLT restrictions, milestones, when PT starts, and how fusion is tracked on X-ray.

Recovering from cervical disc replacement: how it differs from ACDF recovery, the first weeks, activity milestones, and protecting your new motion.

A spine surgeon's honest guide to spinal injections: epidurals, facet and SI joint injections — what they treat, what they can't fix, and when to stop repeating them.

Spondylolisthesis is a slipped vertebra — from a stress fracture in athletes or degeneration with age. How it’s graded, why most never need surgery, and when decompression alone vs. fusion is the answer.

Microdiscectomy recovery week by week: same-day surgery, BLT restrictions, milestones, return to work, and the reherniation risk to know about.

Sciatica is leg pain from a pinched spinal nerve — usually a herniated disc. A spine surgeon explains the causes, red flags, and what actually helps.

Arm pain from a pinched nerve in the neck (cervical radiculopathy): causes, the dermatome patterns that pinpoint the level, and when surgery is warranted.

One or two tiny incisions, a camera the width of a pencil, and a herniated disc removed through a natural corridor. What endoscopic spine surgery actually is — and who it's for.

The operation itself is only part of the story; the recovery is the rest. Week by week: collar, swallowing, driving, and when your neck starts feeling like yours again.

Osteoporosis can fracture a vertebra with no fall at all. How kyphoplasty stabilizes it through a tiny incision — and when a brace and time are the better answer.

Leg pain that shows up when you walk and melts away when you sit? That's the classic fingerprint of spinal stenosis. What's narrowing, why it happens, and what actually helps.

Fusion is a powerful tool — and an overused one. When preserving motion is the better answer, and how I decide which operation fits which spine.

Still hurting after spine surgery — or hurting again months later? Why failed back surgery happens, and why revision surgery is a different discipline entirely.

Before you say yes to the OR, get clear answers. The three questions I wish every patient asked — plus why the exam matters more than the scan.

Nervous about seeing a spine surgeon? Most of my patients are — until the first visit. Why a consultation is about answers, not operations, and why your MRI is usually less scary than it sounds.

Bulging disc and herniated disc sound interchangeable. They aren't — and the difference shapes your treatment. Dr. Jihoon Choi explains.

Spine surgery is a major decision, and recommendations vary more than you'd think. Here's what a good second opinion answers — and when it matters most.

Minimally invasive isn't about the length of the scar — it's about what happens underneath it. How small corridors, not small incisions, define modern spine surgery.

Surgery is the last resort, not the starting line. A spine surgeon's honest order of non-surgical care — guided movement, targeted injections, smart load, and the foundation work — before the OR.