Rocky Mountain Brain & Spine Institute has previously published blogs on stem cell therapies for back symptoms. If you haven’t read those blogs, here’s the quick “Cliff’s Notes”… stem cells don’t work. However we have always given the caveat that “if” stem cells were ever to work, then it would be a great treatment option…
The Berlin Wall separated East and West Germany from 1961 to 1989. Following World War II in 1945, what remained of Germany was divided into four occupation zones, controlled by the United Kingdom, France, the United States, and the USSR/ Soviet Union. Berlin was also subdivided into 4 sections, however, the city was fully within…
A tumor occurs when a cell starts rapidly replicating in an uncontrolled fashion. In some cancers in the body, as the tumor forms, the normal surrounding cells are just pushed to the side. While the patient may succumb to cancer because it metastasizes to too many areas, an individual tumor site may be amenable to…
In November 1993, Kurt Cobain’s legendary band, Nirvana, recorded their performance MTV Unplugged in New York. It was released on November 01, 1994. “Come As You Are was the 2nd track. This year the album is getting a 25th-anniversary vinyl reissue. While Nirvana formed in 1987, it was the 1991 album, Nevermind, which featured “Smells…
As we prepare for Halloween, many households will hang skeleton pictures, skeleton mobiles and even wear skeleton shirts. But how accurate are the Halloween execs at teaching anatomy? The human spine has 33 vertebrae. There are usually 7 cervical bones, 12 thoracic bones, 5 lumbar bones, 5 sacral bones, and 4 coccygeal bones. Most humans…
During the Tampa Bay Rays versus Houston Astros ALDS game October 5 th 2019, AJ Pierzynski commented on being a baseball catcher and getting hit in the head from foul tip balls. He tried to be humorous in making the comment, “I don’t mind getting hit in the head. It’s hard to get a concussion…
In patients with neck arthritis, also called spondylosis, the risk of spinal cord injury from a fall is a concern of both patients and physicians. The spinal cord is essentially an extension of the brain, which constitutes the central nervous system. If the spinal cord is damaged, it likely cannot be repaired and the neurological…
October 14 is Columbus Day, or Indigenous People’s Day. Our country historically has celebrated Columbus Day due to Christopher Columbus’s westward travels, hitting land on October 12, 1492. Of course Columbus arrived in Guanahani in the archipelago of the Bahamas, but the indigenous people gave him the impression he arrived in India. We are named…
Lumbar minimally invasive surgery (MIS) has been around since the late 1970s. It was initially used in decompressions alone, in which some bone and tissue pressing on the nerves was removed without adding any screws or rods. What was interesting about the original reports of lumbar MIS was that the technique was defined by using…
In honor of Pediatric Cancer Awareness month in September, Nebraska native Jack Hoffman was featured on College Gameday. In 2011, 5-year-old Jack had a seizure and was found to have a glioma, a type of brain tumor. The majority of pediatric gliomas present as benign, slow-growing tumors, which are fundamentally different from adult tumors. Luckily,…