When a patient asks,"Why does my back hurt?" the answer can take a bit of detective work.  Dr. Christopher Winfree from the Pain Center says that the exact cause is often elusive but there are six anatomical structures in the spine that are the most common sources of chronic low back pain.  He...

A 48 year old man, we'll call Hank, fell off a ladder and broke his back.  He suffered a complete spinal cord injury and had no feeling or movement from the waist down.  Doctors were able to get him in the operating room within 48 hours of his injury where they performed an experimental new surger...

The patient, “Harry”, was a 77 year old Korean War Veteran who suffered from both pain and numbness on the top and bottom of both his feet. This was caused by nerve damage he had gotten from multiple episodes of frostbite during the war. He had been treated unsuccessfully using physical therapy and a number of pain relieving drugs including ones specifically used for nerve pain.

Dr. Christopher J. Winfree of The Center for Peripheral Nerve Surgery and his colleagues describe in a paper, soon to be published in the journal Neurosurgery, how the innovative use of ultrasound can guide surgeons in the placement of a pain relieving device for a patient with intractable foot pai...