Spine library
The questions patients actually ask.
Answered plainly, with references, a named reviewer and a review date on every one. No fear, no selling.
Browse
By topic.
SymptomsWhat a symptom is likely to mean.3 articlesConditionsDiagnoses explained in plain terms.2 articlesTreatmentsWhat an intervention does, and does not do.3 articlesDecisionsChoosing between options, including no operation.9 articlesRecoveryWhat the weeks after surgery look like.1 articleInjuriesWork injuries and the process around them.1 articleEvidenceWhat the research does and does not settle.In progress
Symptoms
What a symptom is likely to mean.
- Your Spine MRI Report, Term by TermA glossary of the words on a spine MRI report, what each actually describes, and which ones are usually normal findings for your age.
- Neck Pain vs. Arm Pain: Why the Difference Decides Your TreatmentWhere the pain goes tells a spine surgeon more than how much it hurts. Why arm symptoms change the assessment, and which pattern points at the spinal cord.
- Is It Your SI Joint or Your Sciatic Nerve?Both cause buttock pain that can run into the thigh. What separates them on examination, and why getting it wrong costs patients months of the wrong treatment.
Conditions
Diagnoses explained in plain terms.
- What Happens to the Discs Next to a Fusion?Fusing a segment transfers load to its neighbours. What adjacent segment change is, how much of it is caused by the fusion, and what the honest uncertainty is.
- Bone Spur or Disc? Why It Changes the OperationBoth compress a cervical nerve and produce identical symptoms. They arrive on different timescales, behave differently over time, and point toward different treatments.
Treatments
What an intervention does, and does not do.
- Is Outpatient Spine Surgery Safe?Going home the same day after spine surgery is now routine for many procedures. What makes it appropriate, and who is better served by staying.
- Why We Ask You to Try Physical Therapy FirstTherapy first is not a delaying tactic or an insurance hoop, though it is sometimes both. What it is actually for, and when it is the wrong advice.
- Can You Replace Two Discs?Two-level cervical disc replacement is performed in selected patients. Both levels have to qualify independently, and insurance coverage is less consistent than for one.
Decisions
Choosing between options, including no operation.
- Am I a Candidate for Cervical Disc Replacement?Five things decide whether cervical disc replacement suits you, and all of them are visible on imaging before surgery. What they are and why each matters.
- Is Cervical Disc Replacement Covered by Insurance?Single-level cervical disc replacement is now widely covered. Two-level is less consistent. How to check your own plan, and what to confirm beyond the surgeon.
- Disc Replacement vs. FusionBoth operations decompress the same nerve in the neck. What differs is what happens to the segment afterwards, and which anatomy each one suits.
- Do I Actually Need Spine Surgery?You have been told you need an operation. How to evaluate that recommendation: the questions to ask, the answers that should reassure you, and the ones worth a second opinion.
- Who Is Actually a Candidate for Endoscopic Spine Surgery?Endoscopic surgery suits a focal, reachable target. What makes a herniation suitable, what rules it out, and why candidacy comes from imaging rather than preference.
- Endoscopic Spine Surgery vs. MicrodiscectomyBoth operations decompress the same nerve. What actually differs between them, which patients suit each, and why the choice matters less than most people expect.
- What to Bring to a Spine Surgery Second OpinionA second opinion is only as good as what you bring to it. The six things that make the difference, and the one most people leave at home.
- Stenosis: Injections, Therapy, or Decompression?Three options for lumbar stenosis, what each actually does, and how the decision is usually made. Including why walking distance matters more than the scan.
- Spondylolisthesis: When Fusion Is Actually NecessaryA slip does not automatically mean a fusion. What actually decides it, why the evidence is genuinely split, and the question to put to your surgeon.
Injuries
Work injuries and the process around them.
How these are written
Every article opens with a short answer that stands on its own, then explains the reasoning behind it. Each carries a named medical reviewer, a review date, and references to sources you can check.
What none of them do is invent numbers. Where a recovery time or a success rate would be useful but depends on your specific anatomy and procedure, the article says so rather than publishing an average that becomes a target you measure yourself against.
They also do not sell operations. A fair number of them explain why an operation is not the answer.
Longer reading
Dr. Arash Sayari writes at greater length about individual studies and his own clinical reasoning atsayarimd.com, his personal site. The articles here are written for patients deciding what to do next. Nothing there is required reading to be seen at Academy.