At a recent continuing medical education program one of the speakers Dr. James Anderson discussed the assessment of low-back pain. Dr. Anderson is a family practice physician in Greenfield.
During his presentation, Dr. Anderson highlighted a few spine wellness / patient education sites. These sites provide spine eucation information as well as other health information on other topics. These sites are http://orthoinfo.aaos.org, http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/, and www.uptodate.com/patients. A few books that he recommended include: Kortz, JN, Parkinson, G. Heal Your Aching Back. McGraw Hill, New York, 2007 and Dumhi, HA. All You Need to Know About Your Back Pain. Arthritis Foundation, Atlanta, 2002.
Additionally,this link on Indiana Spine Groups web site provides a listing of other useful spine related web sites.
In July, I presented at the 15th annual International Meeting of Advanced Spinal Techniques. I was honored to present two scientific papers at this medical education program. One was about the US FDA IDE trial for the
Here are links to the abstracts presented –“Radiographic Results from the BRYAN® Cervical Disc
Another special interest symposium for this continuing medical education program is entitled, “The Osteoporotic Spine”. Co-presenters for this session are Kevin Macadaeg, MD, and Michael Stack, MD. Dr. Macadaeg is a minimally invasive spine specialist with Indiana Spine Group, and Dr. Stack is a rheumatologist with Diagnostic Rheumatology & Research, PC.
Osteoporosis has been identified as a major health concern, and the National Institutes of Health predicts that one in two women and one in four men over the age of 50 will suffer from a vertebral compression fracture. Many times, not diagnosed until there is a fracture – this session will highlight the latest screening and diagnostic guidelines and recommendations. Additionally, there will be a review of the recommended treatments including anti-osteoporotic medications and vertebral augmentation (vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty).
For a complete medical education /symposium agenda click here.
On Saturday, the Back Talk continuing medical education program will focus on different diagnoses and treatments and will feature concurrent sessions. These next series of blog entries will highlight these special interest symposiums.
One special interest symposium entitled, The Healthy Spine, will be presented by Alta Skelton. Alta is a nurse practitioner with Indiana Spine Group.
During this session, Alta will be discussing how lifestyle can affect the health of one’s spine. She will address exercise, posture, obesity, smoking and the role of nutrition and diet; and how these key lifestyle factors affect the spine. Additionally, Alta will discuss key characteristics that dispose an individual to spine problems.
This continuing medical education program will also provide in-depth information on spine surgery – areas focused on will be lumbar surgery and cervical spine surgery. 
This session will be presented by neurosurgical spine surgeon Kenneth Renkens, MD, and will provide an overview of spine surgery procedures for the lower back and indications.
Topics discussed will include:
§ Differentiate between the surgical types of lumbar fusions (PLIF, ALIF and TLIF) and their applications.
On June 18, Indiana Spine Group will be hosting a continuing medical education program/dinner for physicians. At this program, I will be speaking with John Arbuckle, MD and Jonathan Gentile, MD. (Drs. Arbuckle and Gentile are also minimally invasive spine specialists with Indiana Spine Group.) We will be providing, “A Current Review of Pharmacologic and Interventional Treatments for the Osteoporotic Spine”.
Topics that will be discussed include:
· A review of the latest pharmacologic clinical guidelines for the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis.
- A discussion of treatment algorithms for the osteoporotic spine; including indications and outcomes of vertebral augmentation.
This continuing medical education dinner, sponsored by Stryker Interventional Pain, has been approved for AMA PRA Category I Credit.
For more information, please call 317.228.7000.
Last week, I attended and presented at the annual
At this continuing medical education meeting, I was honored to be a faculty member. On Thursday, I presented the radiographic data from a Bryan Disc Study (a cervical artificial cervical disc). On Friday as a moderator, I was joined by four world renowned experts in the field of spinal trauma. For this instructional course, we discussed thoracic and lumbar spine fractures. On Saturday, I participated in a special program devoted to spine surgery. I joined other world renowned experts on a debate about the proper treatment for cervical radiculopathy. (A general definition for cervical radiculopathy is disease of the spinal nerve roots or spinal nerves in the cervical (neck) spine. Many times this is caused by degenerative disc disease).
Planning continues on the spine conference Back Talk! We are excited to announce our keynote speaker for the conference. Our keynote speaker is Dr. Stephen Olvey – who recently wrote a book entitled, Rapid Response: My inside story as a motor racing life-saver.
Currently, Dr. Olvey is the Director of the Neurosurgical Intensive Care Unit at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami and an Associate Professor of Clinical Neurological Surgery for the University of Miami School of Medicine. Additionally, Dr. officer a medical consultant for the Indianapolis 500 and the chief medical officer for the Grand Prix Master’s Series.
As keynote speaker at the spine symposium, Dr. Olvey will talk about “Lessons Learned from Motorsports” and some of the key objectives he will be addressing are :
2. To understand the prevention of injuries from high velocity impact.
3. To organize medical coverage of sporting events with a high potential for severe and even fatal injury.
4. To diagnose and manage occult injuries as a result of extreme high energy crashes.
To learn more about this continuing medical education program, Back Talk, call Indiana Spine Group at 317.228.7000 or visit their web site.
Key to planning our spine continuing medical education program is determining the overall objectives. For this process, we reviewed the comments from last year’s spine symposium, as well as identified key issues important to physicians and other health care providers.
Overall objectives for this year’s spine symposium are as follows:
•Provide a comprehensive diagnostic assessment of patients who present with back and neck pain including appropriateness for referral to spine specialists.
•Understand the overall principles for evidence-based medicine for the treatment of spinal disorders from an operative and non-operative perspective.
•Understand extrinsic factors affecting spine health; i.e. daily activities, lifestyle habits, sports, aging, and with this information will be able to provide patients’ guidelines to maintain a healthy spine.
•Identify surgical and medical advancements in the diagnosis and treatment of patients with spinal problems and disorders.
•Identify medical and minimally interventional treatment options for patients with spinal disorders, and back or neck pain; as well as have an understanding of the indications and effectiveness of these treatment options.
•Understand the diagnostic and treatment options of patients with specific conditions/issues, including the young athlete, scoliosis, rheumatologic disorders, and the osteoporotic spine patient.
To learn more about the conferece visit our web site or call (317) 228-7000.
