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Pain, tingling, numbness and/or feelings of weakness that travels down the low back to the back of the leg could mean a variety of things, but for most people these general symptoms occur from pain signals traveling down the sciatica nerve. It’s important for patients to understand that the term “sciatica pain” is not an actual diagnosis, but a way to describe pain from various spinal conditions like a herniated disc, spinal stenosis, degenerative disc disease and/or spondylolisthesis.

Dr. Mark Giovanini of NeuroMicroSpine is an expert in the spine world and often encounters...

Open Spine Surgery vs. Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery

There are significant differences between open spine surgeries and minimally invasive spine surgeries. When overall cost and procedural outcomes are analyzed, it’s not difficult to understand why Dr. Mark Giovanini at NeuroMicroSpine prefers the latter of the two.

Minimally invasive spine (MIS) surgeries are just that—minimally invasive. Those who elect to have MIS surgery typically return to work quicker, their risk of infections and complications are significantly lower, and the procedure itself is economically more cost effective.

Because the procedure does not require a...

Vitamin D Deficiency May Increase Spinal Fusion Non-Union

A study from Spine may have found a strong correlation between perioperative vitamin D levels and successful unions after spinal fusion surgery. The study involved 133 patients, 49% had their cervical spine fused, 47% had their lumbar spine fused, and 4% had their thoracic spine fused. According to the report, 31% of patients had a vitamin D deficiency. The results from the study uncovered the following:

After 12 months, 20% of patients with adequate vitamin D levels reported non-unions compared to 38% of patients with a vitamin D deficiency.
Vitamin D...

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