Spine-health launches new Web site design
Spine-health is very pleased to announce the release of our newly designed Web site. In February, we launched part one of our new site focusing heavily on the behind-the-scenes technology platform to enable dynamic content serving, increase site speed, and other enhancements. Today’s release marks the first wave of usability enhancements – new design, new functionality and enhanced navigation. Go ahead and take it for a test drive. The Spine-health library of more than 2,000 doctor written and reviewed articles is now even easier to search and navigate, and we have made important upgrades to our popular Pain Blog, Chats, and Message Boards to improve the user experience for our 10,000+ registered members and regular contributors.
On Spine-health, you won’t find a few articles on a wide range of topics. Our focus and our passion is providing the most in-depth and trusted content on the Web specifically about pain topics like: back pain, chronic pain, arthritis, osteoporosis, spinal stenosis and their co-morbidities such as depression, stress and sleep problems.
Please take a look, and more importantly, tell me what you think. We are working hard to create a culture of constant improvement. Please email me at machler@spine-health.com with your comments on what you like and your suggestions on how to better improve the site. Keep looking, as there will be a lot more to follow in the coming months.
Thanks for your help and support – and don’t forget to sit up straight in your chair :)
Mark Achler
CEO, Spine-health
6 Sites for Checking Out Your Hospital
Are you scheduled for back surgery or considering it? In addition to a thorough check of your surgeon, you should probably check out your hospital too. While the surgeon is arguably the key factor in the procedure itself, the hospital staff, environment, and guidelines can impact things like choice of medication and use of antibiotics – choices that can cause variances among different hospitals, such as post-op infection rates for back surgery patients.
6 Things to Know About Cervical Artificial Discs
In mid-July, the FDA gave final approval for Medtronic to make the first ever cervical artificial disc commercially available in the U.S.: the Prestige Cervical Disc.
Battling Chronic Pain at Work
A recent "Pain in the workplace" survey (jointly sponsored by Ortho-McNeil and the National Pain Foundation) found:
Doctors: Take Control of Your Online Presence
Doctors should Google themselves is the telling headline of a practicing physician’s recent blog post. And he’s right. Today, consumers fully expect to be able to research so-called “experts”, including professional services providers like physicians. The researching takes place in two major ways:
- Via search engines, with Google as #1 for health searches
For Health Information, Enter Wikipedia at Your Own Risk
Thanks to KevinMD for highlighting a hilarious post by anesthesiology resident Michelle Au about residents using (aka misusing) Wikipedia to look up health information.
Hats Off to Spine-health.com’s Message Board Community
The hundreds of registered users (and the hundreds of daily visitors) who contribute to Spine-health.com’s message boards have created a truly unique and beneficial resource for those who suffer from chronic pain. The passion within the community is immediately evident to even the casual observer. Well, the world is taking notice – and giving credit where credit is due. Forbes has listed Spine-health’s message boards as Best of The Web.
Is Your Pain Medication Prescribed Off-Label?
Lumbar Artificial Disc Replacement Not Covered In People Over 60
Medicare has decided it will not pay for lumbar artificial disc replacements in people over 60 years of age. The reasoning for the CMS' (The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) decision is the lack of data on using such devices in the 60+ population, according to Scott Boden, MD, a Spine-health.com Medical Advisor.
New Hope for Smokers with Back Pain
There’s a unique drug now on the market for smokers trying to quit - Chantix (manufactured and distributed by Pfizer). It was actually approved by the FDA in May 2006 and given priority FDA review because of its significant potential benefit to public health.
Subject: Great job. Greg always did
Great job. Greg always did wonderful websites. You're lucky to have him.
June 5th, 2008
Subject: This new design is really
This new design is really nice.
June 5th, 2008
Subject: Invitation to healthcare.com blogs
My name is Alexandra Snyder; I am the Content Editor at HealthCare.com. I’ve been reading your blog, Back Talk: Take Control of Your Back Pain, and was really impressed by the content. I would like to invite you to feed your blog to our blog community.
We have a growing community of bloggers, health care seekers and care providers, and are one of the top online health destinations in the U.S. We currently receive millions of visitors each month! By feeding your blog to our site you will expose your posts and work to the millions of users in our network since each post is featured on our homepage. This is a great way to increase traffic for your existing blog or website and gain notoriety.
Best of all, it’s simple, no need to write a separate blog or leave your current blog site. You would simply create an account at http://blogs.healthcare.com and feed your content. Please feel free to contact me if you need help setting up your blog feed, I will be glad to help you.
Have a great day!
June 6th, 2008
Subject: my spine
hello my name is brenda i have a sciatica in my spine and dont have any more pations it first started on my right side and now its going to the left side. i have a spinal inplant it work a little but now i get spasums on my left side so bad it looks like my having a sezur. the pain is so bad my meds dont work any more. if any one can help me it would be nice............
June 8th, 2008
Subject: Re: Brenda
Hi Brenda,
While we can't diagnose you or offer specific treatment recommendations, I can direct you over to our message boards where we have a forum dedicated to Radiculopathy (sciatica and leg pain). You can discuss your problems with our other members who also suffer from sciatic pain, and hopefully you'll find some useful information.
The Radiculopathy Forum can be found at http://messageboard.spine-health.com/viewforum.php?id=31
Also, we have a ton of articles and health videos written and reviewed by doctors that may be able to help you better understand your condition. You can find links to all of our sciatica information in our Sciatica Health Center at http://www.spine-health.com/conditions/sciatica or by using the search bar at the top of the page and just typing in "sciatica".
Let us know if there's anything else we can do to help. Best wishes for a speedy resolution to your sciatic pain.
Hang in there!
Carolyn
June 9th, 2008
Subject: NSAIDs - cox-2 inhibitors in particular and bone - spine healing
WOW –
THIS is a GREAT web site – I really, really wish I had known about it before….keep up the great work!
Quick question on Cox-2 inhibitors?
From best I can tell – it has only been recently that surgeons and physicians have had the opportunity to have reasonable concern about cox-2 inhibitors (such as Vioxx/Bextra (off the market) and Celebrex (on the market) and how they may really adversely affect the healing of bones and spines from fracture or orthopedic injury. It seems that, and I guess this unfortunately happens, there was Independent Research (IR) which had been suggesting this since the early 2000s, but the drug companies, for whatever reason, did not acknowledge or move fast enough to take a position on it, do any studies, or say post-marketing followup (unless maybe someone there knows better of what the drug companies positions were…. Vioxx is off the market, so I guess no current issue there, but I wonder if Celbrex could be an issue (but I understand that it is a lot less (up to 9x I heard) potent as a cox-2 inhibitor so maybe not an issue there.
Since the drug companies did not feel it necessary (I guess they look at the overall benefit vs problems, etc.) to look into this, and none of my surgeons or physicians knew anything about it – except for maybe some “murky” suspicion that Cox-1 inhibitors (the first set of NSAIDs), the average surgeon and/or physician just did not really have any direction on what to do – and one cannot expect surgeons and physicians to be reading like crazy all of the IR, and at that since the IR was not backed up by Merck/Pfizer, etc. – they just could not make the connection. And on the other hand, they had patients almost demanding, I’m sure for example Vioxx – even when healing (cause no-one really understood) since it was SO effective at anti-inflammatory relief.
In fact, though there had been (from what I have been able to read) some (just some) concern over Cox-1 inhbitors and the first round of NSAIDs, one of my surgeons just assumed that with the SUCH higher safety profile of Cox-2 inhibitors as advetised by Merck/Pfizer (I think Searle at the time) that surely the Cox-2 inhibitors must be ok – is that a reasonable assumption?
My understanding is that the cox-2 enzyme is “turned off”, inhibited or whatever and that then the body does not tell the “osteoclasts” to “go get the bad bone out”, and then signal the “osteoblasts” to “lay down the new bone” – is that a decent layman’s position.
It would just be so good to know what may have been transpired – though for most the time is well past the standard “statute of limitations” etc. – so not much to do but understand for most, yet there is often great comfort in knowing what happened, so one doesn’t have to wonder forever what happened..
By the way… I did/do not smoke or drink, and I did NOT have osteoporosis – it is questionable if there was any osteopenia, but in general my bones were in very good health. Also, I had a few 100% successful operations BEFORE Vioxx (even a 100% successful fusion of c1-c2 which was life/death and has been fine for almost 10 years now! – thank GOD!
When I had VIOXX (only real change) my lumbar operation failed – and with that early retirement…, then a broken leg never healed – the surgeons just did not know why there was no bone healing to “anchor” the hardware. And above all, my condition, Anklyosing Spondalitis is actually one in which the bones naturally fuse. Is it rue that cox-2 inhibitors have been shown to be fairly decent at preventing fusion also (a potential good thing for some conditions).
If you would like to dialogue with someone that may have had the same problem you did (cox-2 inh. preventing bone or spine repair) - I would really appreciate if I am not alone in this - and could dialogue with someone - please email me at a special easy to remember email I made up - badbonehealing@hvc.rr.com.
I won’t go futher, this is long – but with the concerns about FOSAMAX, that is makes the bones less pliable and older (since it (from what I can see) suppresses the natural body process of healthy bone regeneration, and can stay in your bones for 10 years or so – imagine if one took both cox-2 inhbitors AND FOSAMAX – what might the short, intermediate, and long term issue(s) there be.
I sure hope that the newer approaches (which actually stimulate bone growth rather than interfere with the repair – healing- regeneration process) come to fruition. From a layman’s point of view, that seems to be the way to go.
Sorry for the length of this, but it has been on my mind for so long, and finally I found a web site like yours! – MANY THANKS!!!!!
Dennis Harrison
dharrison6@hvc.rr.com
June 12th, 2008
Subject: does anyone hav any type of answer
I AM NEW TO THIS AND POSTED A COMMENT AND HAVE GOTTEN NO REPLY HOWEVR I SEE OTHERS HAV A REPLY.ARE MY PROBLEMS JUST NOT IMPORTANT TO U ALL.GEEZ......
July 6th, 2008
Subject: PLDD Lumbar / Cortisone Shots
Aloha
Am researching cures for herniated lumbar discs for my daughter who fell last August. Vax-D decompression was working wonders until she fell again due to ankle weakness from first injury. Then Vax-D became too painful and leg/hip pain beyond belief.
She has been in daily pain and once again it is beyond any level of coping.
Thanks for your messages on your previous forum site which I read in full today.
Her Orlando location surfaced Tampa and Hudson, FL. plus NYC and San Antonio doctors. Some want loads of cash up front although she has fantastic insurance now.
Anyone able to attest to success with these centers and/or PLDD (Percutaneous Laser Disc Dempression). She is 35, has no arthritis, no past surgery...missing her active life and really stretching her capacity by working for 2 mos., nearly daily, til yesterday.
Just got new MRI yesterday; first one since second fall.She may have first coritsone shot next week.
Thanks for receiving my inquiry and sharing.
May all your dreams come true!
July 8th, 2008
Subject: New design is very fresh and
New design is very fresh and light. Congratulations!
Alexlazarev
July 9th, 2008
Subject: thanks
I search this hardly, thanks
Merlo
August 18th, 2008