Minimally invasive spine surgery: Is it right for you?

What is the difference between traditional open spine surgery and minimally invasive spine surgery? Minimally invasive spine surgery (MIS) is a less invasive spine surgery where doctors use specialized instruments to access the spine through small incisions. With traditional open spine surgery, the surgeon makes an incision that is five to six inches long, then…

Zucchini Chicken Meatballs

From your bariatric nutrition team These chicken meatballs are a nice change of pace from your traditional meatballs.  The zucchini in the recipe helps keep the meatballs moist and delicious and is a great way to sneak in some veggies.  Ingredients:  1 lb. ground chicken  1 medium zucchini grated; gently squeeze some of the liquid…

Precision CyberKnife: Doing an about face

Brushing your teeth, taking a bite of food, saying hello to a friend — for people with trigeminal neuralgia (TN), everyday actions like these can trigger mild to severe facial pain. TN is a condition that affects nerves in the face that send signals to the brain.

Aging independently

By Barbara Broggelwirth, MS RDN, CDN    If you ask most older adults approaching their senior years, their desires are often the same – to maintain independence for as long as possible without having to rely on others for help with activities of daily living. This is known as “aging in place”. Living at home…

Stand Up to Prevent “Sitting Disease”

“Sitting disease” is a term used to link a sedentary lifestyle to 34 diseases and medical conditions, including chronic back pain. Prolonged and excessive sitting has been associated with several health conditions, such as obesity, diabetes, heart problems and cancer. Additionally, people who sit too much have a 50% higher risk of depression compared to those who are more active, and they are at greater risk of developing dementia.

Atomic Habits – successful behavior change

Atomic Habits by James Clear, goes into vivid detail about why it’s so hard to change our behaviors. The author discusses what we can do to change our bad habits into good ones for long-term behavior change. It’s important for us to take accountability for our actions, and when we are unhappy with ourselves, we must be the ones to change those actions.

Weight loss that lasts

Unless you live under a rock, you’ve probably heard some miraculous-sounding weight-loss stories recently. They’re everywhere, thanks, in part, to the runaway popularity of Ozempic and Wegovy, prescription drugs that suppress appetite as long as you take them. But can they deliver life-long weight loss? The jury is out on that, but there’s another tool in the weight-loss toolbox that is a proven life changer, according to surgeon Arif Ahmad, MD. It’s bariatric surgery, and Dan Krischer, who was once 508 pounds, is a testament to how it can work long-term.