What is Doctor Stevens' policy on pain medications?
Doctor Stevens uses pain medicines for a short time after surgery to help with surgical pain. He does not prescribe pain medicines for non-surgical pain. If you feel that you need pain medications to treat flareups of neck or back pain, we recommend contacting your primary care physician. For long-term pain management, we recommend consultation with a pain management specialist.
What is the difference between an orthopaedic surgeon and a neurosurgeon when it comes to spine surgery?
In the past, orthopaedic surgeons primarily dealt with deformities such as scoliosis and spondylolisthesis performing fusion procedures where neurosurgeons dealt more with conditions such as stenosis and microsurgery. However, in more recent years, this distinction has blurred somewhat. Many neurosurgeons perform fusion procedures and treat deformities, and many orthopaedic surgeons perform microsurgery. It is always reasonable to ask your surgeon what kind of procedures he or she performs and what kind of training he or she has.
