"rw" wrote in message
m...
Scott Seidman wrote:

Very recently published studies have shown that spinal fusions are not
as
efficacious as laminectomies, and both are not much more successful at
resolving back pain than therapy.

As someone who has had both a laminectomy and a fusion (in my neck), my
experience is very different. I first had the laminectomy because
"fusion" sounded too extreme (I feared walking around like
Frankenstein), even though my surgeon told me the problem would probably
reoccur. It did, a few years later, and big time. I then had a fusion of
three vertebrae (same surgeon) and it completely took care of the
problem up to this time. The decreased flexibility in my neck is not
nearly as bad as I feared. The fusion might be contributing to my
upper-back problems while fishing (described in another post), but at
least I don't have constant, excruciating pain in my arm and atrophied
muscles.

The recuperation from the fusion was a bitch, though.

All of which demonstrates clearly enough that the interplay of problems and
potential palliatives or solutions is a great deal more complex than the
health care consumer realizes or, generally, is capable of dealing with
confidently. As a matter of fact, the same could be said for health care
providers (of every ilk) were it not for the fact that confidence comes all
too easily to so many of them......what the hell, it ain't their back.

The good news is that there IS a one size fits all foolproof solution to ALL
health care problems.......it resides somewhere in Florid, if I'm not
mistaken.

Wolfgang