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Los Angeles Minimally Invasive Spine Institute Blog
What Causes Degenerative Disc Disease?
Published: Jul 23, 2025
Your back absorbs the impact of daily life, every jump, every lift, every prolonged period of sitting. However, what occurs when the vital shock absorbers between your vertebrae, your intervertebral discs, start to fail? This wear and tear is known as...
Traditional vs. Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery
Published: Jul 23, 2025
There are two main options for treatment if your doctor recommends spine surgery. The main types are traditional spine surgery and minimally invasive spine surgery. Choosing between the two approaches can be difficult, but understanding their...
8 Herniated Disc Symptoms You Should Know
Published: Jun 26, 2025
A herniated disc can affect your quality of life and ability to move about. When a spinal disc's soft, creamy inner filling pushes through the defensive coating (often called a slipped or ruptured disc), it can impinge on surrounding nerves. Disc injury...
Treating Spinal Stenosis With Decompression Laminectomy
Published: Jun 17, 2025
Spinal stenosis occurs when the space in your spinal canal narrows, compressing your lumbar spine nerves. It is one of the leading causes of severe back pain reported by many people across the world. The pain also radiates to your legs, affecting your...
Surgery for Sciatica? Understand the Facts First
Published: May 22, 2025
Sciatica refers to the pain originating in your lower back and generally radiating down both or one of your legs. It arises when the sciatic nerves become pinched or compressed in the lower back as they exit the spine. The medical term for sciatica is...
The 4 Pillars of Treating Chronic Spinal Pain
George Rappard MD discusses the 4 key pillars of spine care. The 4 pillars are physical therapy and chiropractic care tailored to your condition, appropriate selection of medical therapy, pain injections targeting your specific pain source and, as a last result, minimally invasive motion and stability preserving spinal surgery performed as an outpatient procedure. Through effective use of the first 3 pillars only about 5% of our patients need to go on to have back surgery or neck surgery.
