Spine care · Chicago, the suburbs & NW Indiana
Find out what is actually wrong.
Academy Orthopaedics is a spine practice built around careful diagnosis and current evidence. Most patients seen here do not need an operation. When one is the right answer, it should be the smallest that solves the problem.
- Board-certified orthopaedic spine surgeon
- Fellowship-trained at Cedars-Sinai
- Eight offices across Chicagoland and NW Indiana
- Second opinions and work injuries seen
Where to start
Most people arrive in one of three situations.
How decisions get made
Surgery is one tool. It has to earn its place.
The diagnosis comes first
Back and neck pain are rarely simple, and an MRI finding is not a diagnosis on its own. Most spines show wear by middle age. What matters is whether the wear on the film explains the symptoms in the room.
Most patients do not need an operation
Choosing not to operate is a treatment, not a delay. When surgery is not the right answer you will be told so plainly, along with what to do instead.
The smallest approach that solves the problem
When an operation is warranted, the goal is the least invasive approach that fully addresses the problem, and keeping as much of your own spine working as the anatomy allows.
The evidence, including where it is unsettled
Dr. Sayari publishes and reviews in spine surgery. That work is why the practice can be specific about what the research supports, and honest about the decisions it does not settle.
Conditions
What is treated here.
Each page covers the symptoms, how the diagnosis is confirmed, what to try before surgery is considered, and the point at which an operation becomes reasonable.
Neck
Lower back
Treatments
The goal is not the most surgery.
It is identifying the right treatment, and when surgery is necessary, using the least invasive approach the anatomy allows. Each page states the limitations as well as the case for the procedure.
The surgeon
Arash Sayari, MD
Fellowship-trained, board-certified orthopaedic spine surgeon. Cervical, thoracic and lumbar spine, with a focus on minimally invasive and motion-preserving techniques.
Orthopaedic residency at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, where he was named Teacher of the Year in 2021, then a spine surgery fellowship at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles with training in robotics, motion preservation and minimally invasive technique.
A substantial part of his practice is second opinions, including for patients who have already been told they need a fusion.
Research and evidence
The reason the practice can be specific.
Treatment recommendations here lean on published evidence, and part of that evidence is work Dr. Sayari has contributed to and reviewed.
- 71Peer-reviewed publications
- 9Textbook and book chapters
- 72National and international presentations
- 2021Rush Teacher of the Year
Injured patients
Injured at work? There is a process for this.
Work-related neck and back injuries need a clear account of what happened, imaging that matches it, and documentation that holds up. The pathway covers evaluation, diagnosis, nonoperative options, surgery where it is indicated, and return-to-work considerations.
This is a clinical pathway. The practice does not make legal conclusions or causation determinations.
Locations
Eight offices, so distance is not the reason you wait.
Consultations, imaging review and most follow-up care happen at whichever office is closest to you. Patients travel to the Bolingbrook and Mokena offices from Joliet, Shorewood, Morris.
Dr. Sayari writes about spine care and current research in more depth at sayarimd.com. You do not need to read it to be seen here.