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| Introduction | |
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| Author's Note on Scientific Evidence and Back Pain | |
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| The Back Story: The Basics of Spines and Surgery | |
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| A Spine Tutorial | |
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| The Spine in Full | |
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| The Sum of Its Parts | |
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| The Parts That Are Holes | |
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| The Disc | |
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| The Spinal Cord | |
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| Muscles | |
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| Ligaments | |
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| The Problem of Pain: What We Don't Know | |
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| The Appendicitis Model | |
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| Pain and Your Brain | |
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| Finding a Doctor | |
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| Meet Your Doctor | |
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| Questions, Questions | |
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| The Two-way Information Street | |
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| Second Opinions | |
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| Choosing Your Doctor | |
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| Red Flags | |
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| The Causes of Back Pain | |
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| My Back Hurts: The Varieties of Pain | |
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| Other Types of Pain | |
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| Spine-One-One: Emergencies and Urgencies | |
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| Emergencies | |
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| Urgencies | |
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| Testing, Testing: X-Rays, Scans, and More | |
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| Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) | |
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| X-rays | |
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| Computerized Tomography (CT) Scan | |
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| Myelogram | |
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| Nuclear Bone Scan | |
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| Electromyography (EMG) | |
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| Discogram | |
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| The Usual Suspects: Common Back Diagnoses | |
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| Herniated Disc | |
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| Spinal Stenosis | |
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| Spondylolysis | |
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| Spondylolisthesis | |
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| Kyphosis (Fixed Sagittal Plane Deformity, Flatback Syndrome) | |
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| Facet Joint Syndrome | |
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| Scoliosis | |
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| Sacroiliac (SI) Joint Problems | |
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| Discogenic Low Back Pain | |
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| Degenerative Disc Disease and Black Disc | |
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| Internal Disc Disruption (IDD) | |
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| Acute Low Back Pain | |
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| Dodging The Knife: Alternatives to Surgery | |
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| Exercise | |
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| Making Sense of the Options | |
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| Alternative Treatments | |
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| No Risk | |
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| Small Risk | |
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| Significant Risk | |
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| Medications | |
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| Acetaminophen | |
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| Aspirin | |
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| Nonsteroidal Anti-inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs) | |
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| Opiates | |
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| Muscle Relaxants | |
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| Antidepressants | |
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| Antiseizure Medications | |
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| Steroids | |
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| Spinal Injections | |
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| Types of Injections | |
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| Risks of Injections | |
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| Going Under the Knife: Surgical Procedures | |
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| Lumbar Laminectomy | |
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| The Varieties of Laminectomy | |
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| Why a Laminectomy? | |
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| When Not to Get a Laminectomy | |
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| What Can Go Wrong | |
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| Laminectomy and Fusion | |
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| When You Should Consider Fusion with a Laminectomy | |
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| Recovery | |
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| Spinal Fusion | |
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| Why Fusion? | |
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| Fusion for Instability-Related Pain | |
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| Fusion for Back Pain Without Instability | |
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| The Varieties of Fusion | |
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| Putting It All Together: Which Fusion for Which Problem | |
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| What Can Go Wrong | |
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| Bone Grafting | |
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| Recovery | |
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| Spinal Implants | |
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| Types of Implants | |
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| What Implants Are Good For | |
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| What Implants Are Not Good For | |
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| What Can Go Wrong | |
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| Implants, Industry, and Your Surgeon | |
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| Artificial Disc Replacement | |
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| Why Disc Replacement? | |
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| The Reality So Far | |
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| What Can Go Wrong | |
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| The Bottom Line | |
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| Minimally Invasive Techniques | |
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| Electrothermal and Radiofrequency Disc Treatments | |
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| Percutaneous Endoscopic Laser Discectomy (PELD) | |
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| Endoscopic Discectomy | |
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| Facet Neurotomy | |
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| Vertebroplasty and Kyphoplasty | |
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| After the Surgery: Care and Complications | |
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| General Complications | |
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| During Surgery | |
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| After Surgery | |
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| Summary | |
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| Revision Surgery | |
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| Revision Laminectomy | |
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| Hardware Failure | |
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| Fusion Non-Union (Pseudarthrosis) | |
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| Adjacent Level Disease | |
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| Postoperative Instability | |
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| Epilogue: It Still Hurts! What Do I Do? | |