Quote:
Originally Posted by cyrilwood
Need recommendation from anyone who has experienced Spinal Stenosis corrective surgery.
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Fifty years ago I was an operating room technician (scrub nurse) and scrubbed on various spinal surgeries with perhaps a dozen surgeons, both orthopedic surgeons and neurosurgeons—both of whom are allowed to do spinal surgery. On that basis, watching them all at work, I decided that if I ever needed spine surgery, I would go to a neurosurgeon for a surgery that was primarily about carefully freeing a trapped nerve from a disc, like a laminectomy, and go to an orthopedic surgeon for a surgery that was based on fixating the spine, like a fusion. Neurosurgeons excelled at using operating microscopes and tiny instruments, while orthopedic surgeons were better with the carpentry tools like chisels and screwdrivers. Also, a surgeon who performs that surgery many times a year with excellent results is crucial to success.
While I have your eyes: hands. I scrubbed on dozens and dozens of hand surgeries, mostly with two board certified hand surgeons, but also orthopedic surgeons and neurosurgeons. If at all possible, insist on a board certified hand surgeon for any hand problem. Neurosurgeons can do a fine job on a carpal tunnel release, and orthopedic surgeons can do okay pinning together a broken bone, but hand surgeons do both, and much more. Where an orthopedic surgeon is like a general carpenter framing a house, a hand surgeon is like a finish carpenter who does the fine work on cabinets and does a perfect job. With something like a severed finger, hand surgeons know how to sew together under a microscope digital nerves or digital arteries that are only a millimeter thick. Orthopedic surgeons don’t usually have that sort of training unless they have specialized in hands and been well-trained.