This month I am highlighting the book “Take Back Control: A Surgeon’s Guide to Healing your Spine Without Medications or Surgery” by Dr. Kamshad Raiszadeh, M.D.. In his book, Dr. Raiszadeh suggests we should be shifting our healthcare system towards more prevention and natural healing methods for spinal conditions. He outlines the science-based principles you can use to overcome your back or neck pain without surgery or medications.
Dr. Raiszadeh is a spinal surgeon and has seen that for most chronic back and neck pain patients, surgery is rarely the best option. He and his team set about designing, developing a program to prevent unnecessary procedures and medications. His approach emphasizes strengthening, education and self-empowerment.
In his book, Dr. Raiszadeh discusses why our fragmented, expensive, and inefficient healthcare system so often fails at treating back pain, how to ensure you get the right care at the right time for effective pain relief, why strengthening is the best secret for long-term back health, how even the most debilitated patients can substitute their own body’s endorphins for addictive prescription drugs and insider tips for developing the positive habits and support you need to succeed.
After completing undergraduate studies at UC Berkeley, Dr. Raiszadeh completed medical school at UC San Francisco, orthopedic surgery residency at UC Davis, and his Pediatric and Adult Spine Fellowship at the Hospital for Joint Diseases/NYU in New York City. He has 20 years of experience with the broad range of spine surgery including minimally invasive surgery, complex spinal disorders such as scoliosis and kyphosis, and cervical spine disorders. During these 20 years he has noticed a dramatic increase in patients turning to surgery for treatment of neck and low back pain, but many of them not getting their desired long-term result. He therefore became increasingly interested in improvement and standardization of non-operative treatment. By developing the best aspects of non-operative treatment in an atmosphere of empowerment to maximize the body’s own healing capacity, he noticed that many fewer patients required surgery, and the ones who underwent surgery had much better long-term results.
For more information about Dr. Raiszadeh and his book, visit his website.