Most people have back surgery to relieve pain, but all too often it doesn't help. For the half million people who undergo back surgery each year, and the additional million who are seriously contemplating it, Do You Really Need Back Surgery?, Second Edition, is a godsend-an informed, reliable guide to when you should consider surgery and when you should not. Written by an internationally recognized expert in nerve and spinal surgery, this highly readable guide covers everything back patients need to know to make informed decisions about their treatment. The book discusses the details of spinal anatomy; explains the difference between acute, chronic, and recurring pain; shows how to keep the spine healthy; and defines such terms as spurs, stenosis, and slippage. It also reveals what clues your physician uses to predict whether a given type of pain is likely to go away with rest and exercise, and which types may become emergencies. Dr. Filler discusses the risks of surgery, the decisions you may be faced with and what options you have, and your expectations for recovery. He provides detailed explanations of the wide array of spinal injections and surgeries, including discectomies and fusions, as well as innovative procedures such as electrothermic and laser techniques and artificial disks. He explains the various medical imaging and diagnostic tests available and even covers the complexities of health insurance. The new and extensively revised edition of this book is expanded to cover the impact of dozens of new advanced technologies in spinal diagnostics and treatment that have emerged in the eight years since the original very successful edition. Advances in new types of pain medications and new types of surgeries that minimize recovery time and achieve better outcomes are explained. In addition, this book examines the problems in the case of a few new devices in spinal surgery where money from medical device manufacturers has led to distorted research that had to be withdrawn. A major change from the previous edition is the inclusion of two chapters that describe a series of different nerve entrapment syndromes that can cause headache, neck, shoulder and arm pain as well as causing buttock and leg pain - but are not caused by spine problems. This includes information about piriformis syndrome causing sciatic, thoracic outlet syndrome causing shoulder and neck pain and about pudendal nerve entrapments causing groin and pelvis pains. From Pilates to pedicle screws, and from osteoporosis to spina bifida, Do You Really Need Back Surgery?, Second Edition, covers all the questions your doctor usually doesn't have the time to answer. Featuring almost 100 illustrations, it is an essential manual for every neck or back pain sufferer.

Modern biology is increasingly focused on the role of repetitive anatomical structures in the embryological construction of organisms. The discovery of the homeobox (Hox) genes by Edward Lewis in 1978 ushered in a series of stunning revelations such as the fundamental commonality of insect segments and mammalian vertebrae - a wild and ridiculed idea first proposed by Etienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire in 1822 that has now been proven correct. Axial Character Seriation in Mammals is an unabridged edition of the 1986 Harvard University PhD Thesis of Aaron G. Filler, MD, PhD that pioneered our modern reassessment of mammalian vertebrae in the light of the new homeotic biology. As Dr. Filler points out in fascinating detail, the leading explanations of similarity among animals before Darwin were arrayed around the vertebrae of the spine in works by Sir Richard Owen, Johann Wolfgang Goethe and Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire. This was the theoretical structure that was overturned and demolished by Darwin's ideas about similarity due to common descent. In a stunning reversal, modern homeotic genetics has shown that repeating structures are indeed critical to understanding animal similarity. This work is the first study of the modern era that views vertebrae as a key to unlocking the way in which Nature has organized repeating biological structures. For the 150 years since the Great Academy Debate of 1830 appeared to demolish Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire's ideas, vertebrae have been seen as no more than some bones in Vertebrate animals that are involved in support and locomotion. Axial Character Seriation in Mammals, however, explores the fascinating traces of how the morphogenetic genes sculpt and organizeserially repeating structures, thus re-establishing the vertebrae as a legitimate and compelling subject of modern science.