Och Spine

At NewYork-Presbyterian Och Spine, our spine experts have extensive experience offering non-surgical and surgical treatments for herniated discs, arthritis, sciatica, spinal stenosis, and other degenerative spine disorders. Our goal is to restore your comfort and mobility so you can return to the activities you love.

Degenerative Conditions We Treat

Our experts care for patients with:

• Ankylosing spondylitis
• Cauda equina syndrome
• Cervical myelopathy
• Degenerative disc disease
• Facet arthropathy
• Herniated discs
• Lipomyelomeningocele - Peds
• Neurogenic claudication
• Os odontoideum cysts
• Pseudoarthrosis
• Radiculopathy
• Rheumatoid arthritis
• Sciatica
• Spinal stenosis
• Spondylolisthesis
• Ventral spinal cord herniation
• Cervical Spondylotic Meyelopathy
• Chin on chest syndrome
• Diffuse Idiopathic Skeletal Hyperostosis (DISH)
• Low back pain
• Neck Pain (adult)
• Ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament (OPLL)
• Pinched Nerve
• Spondylosis
• Synovial Cyst

Our Approach to Degenerative Spine Disorders

We typically begin your treatment with conservative therapies, such as physical therapy, injections, and pain management, If non-surgical therapies aren’t successful, our surgeons perform minimally invasive procedures to relieve pressure on the spinal cord or spinal nerves, and microdiscectomy to remove the herniated portions of a damaged disc. Our spine surgeons are highly experienced performing:

• Artificial disc replacement
• Corpectomy, discectomy, and decompression surgery
• Laminectomy, laminoplasty, and laminotomy
• Microsurgery
• Osteotomy
• Spine fusion
• Robotically assisted open and minimally invasive cervical and lumbar microdiscectomy

Our multidisciplinary pediatric spine specialists are specifically trained to treat children. Because of the complexities involved in pediatric spine procedures, those surgeries are performed at NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital—one of the nation’s top children's hospital's. More children's spine surgery is performed here than any other hospital in New York.

Pediatric Spine Disorders We Treat

Our pediatric spine team cares for children with:

• Scoliosis, including early-onset scoliosis
• Spinal deformities
• Kyphosis (hunched back)
• Spasticity
• Spina bifida
• Spinal muscular atrophy
• Spinal trauma
• Spinal tumors
• Spondylolisthesis
• Cerebral palsy
• Neck issues
• Neurofibromatosis
• Spina bifida Occculta
• Tethered Spinal Cord
• Von Hippel Lindau

Non-surgical Treatment

Children and teens with moderate scoliosis curves who do not need surgery may benefit from Schroth physical therapy at our Center for Conservative Care for Spinal Deformities. Some children benefit from casting or bracing.

Scoliosis Surgery

We are especially known for our expertise treating early-onset scoliosis and have introduced less invasive approaches for treating these very young patients. Our team offers MAGEC^™ (MAGnetic Expansion Control)—a specialized procedure that allows children to have their spines aligned without repeated surgeries to adjust implanted growing rods. We also offer vertical expandable prosthetic titanium rib (VEPTR), growing rods, and spinal stapling for young people with scoliosis.

Click here to learn 10 facts parents need to know about scoliosis.

A Team Approach

Working with experts in pediatric pulmonary medicine, pediatric cardiology, and pediatric endocrinology, among many others, we are able to offer your child comprehensive, coordinated care in a single building. Our care team also includes certified Child Life specialists, who are specifically trained to guide children and their families through the complexities of surgery and follow-up care.

Learn more about pediatric spine care.

NewYork-Presbyterian Och Spine is internationally recognized for our specialized care of children and adults with spinal deformities. Our doctors have advanced training in complex spinal deformity surgery, especially reconstructive surgery, and often perform more complicated procedures than surgeons at other hospitals.

Spinal Deformities We Treat

Our spine experts are leaders in the field and treat a range of spinal deformities, including:

• Scoliosis, including adolescent idiopathic scoliosis, adult idiopathic scoliosis, congenital scoliosis, degenerative lumbar scoliosis, and early-onset scoliosis
• Kyphosis (hunched back)
• Flatback syndrome
• Sagittal imbalance
• Major spinal malalignments
• Spondylolisthesis
• Cervical spinal (neck) deformity
• Ankylosing spondylitis
• Spina bifida
• Basilar invagination

Our Approach to Spinal Deformities

Our surgeon-in-chief pioneered the classification system used worldwide for adolescent idiopathic scoliosis, and the use of "thoracic pedicle screws" and other surgical devices used to correct spinal deformities. Our care of people with spinal deformities includes:

• 3D CT imaging to plan the precise placement of screws and other techniques needed to align the spine. For scoliosis, we use a radiation-free system to generate 3D information about your spine while you walk. These advanced imaging approaches enable us to better understand your spinal anatomy and customize your treatment.
• Prehab therapy. To optimize surgical outcomes and speed recovery, we offer physical therapy before surgery. Your sessions may include strengthening, stretching, balance, and cardiopulmonary conditioning.
• Surgical innovation. Our team includes international leaders and innovators for some of the most highly advanced surgical procedures—vertebral column resection (VCR) and pedicle subtraction osteotomy (PSO)—which we use to treat the most challenging spinal deformities. During these complex surgeries, areas of the spine are separated or removed, the spine is realigned into its correct position, and special instruments are used to permanently fix the spine in place.
• Physical therapy after surgery. Following surgery, our specially trained physical therapists offer physical therapy twice a day until you leave the hospital.

NewYork-Presbyterian Och Spine is internationally recognized as a leading facility for the treatment of spinal tumors. Our neurosurgical spine team cares for people with primary and metastatic tumors of the vertebrae and spinal cord, combining surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and/or stereotactic radiosurgery. They may use spinal stabilization and, minimally invasive spine surgery to treat spinal tumors, preserving spinal nerve function and improving patients’ quality of life.

Spinal Tumors We Treat

We care for people with spinal tumors such as:

• Astrocytomas
• Chondrosarcoma
• Chordoma
• Ependymoma
• Ewing’s sarcoma
• Giant cell tumor
• Hemangioblastoma
• Meningiomas
• Metastatic tumors
• Neurofibromas
• Osteoblastoma
• Osteogenic sarcoma
• Osteoid osteoma
• Schwannomas
• Solitary bone plasmacytoma
• Spinal hemangioma
• Dermoid and Epidermoid
• Dumbbell Tumor
• Nerve Sheath Tumor
• Pathologic Fracture
• Plasmacytoma
• Schwannomatosis

NewYork-Presbyterian Och Spine brings together experts in trauma care, orthopedics, neurosurgery, and physiatry to treat injuries to the vertebrae, spinal cord, and nearby nerves.

Spine Injuries We Treat

Injuries to the spine can range from mild strains like whiplash to debilitating spinal cord injuries. Our experts care for people with injuries from trauma and vertebral fractures from osteoporosis, including:

• Burst fracture
• Compression fracture
• Hangman's fracture
• Odontoid fracture
• Spinal compression fractures
• Spinal cord injury
• Spinal fractures
• Type II Odontoid Fracture

Our Approach to Spine Injuries and Fractures

The way we treat spinal injuries depends on the type of injury and the degree of instability. Many spinal fractures heal with conservative treatment. However, severe fractures may require surgery to realign the bones. Our experts also have extensive training and experience with minimally invasive spinal surgery and state-of-the-art technologies to treat spinal cord injuries.

• Spinal trauma. Our trauma team quickly stabilizes people with spinal injuries to avoid further damage. We use surgery to stabilize fractured vertebrae, release pressure, and treat other injuries in the body. We begin rehabilitation as soon as possible.
• Vertebral fractures. We may stabilize vertebral fractures, such as those caused by osteoporosis or spinal tumors, using vertebroplasty or kyphoplasty: the injection of bone cement into the fractured vertebrae to provide stability as it hardens. If you have a more serious fracture, we can perform surgery to repair it.

• Arachnoid Cysts
• Cavernous Malformation
• Chiari malformation
• Dorsal arachnoid web
• Spinal Arteriovenous Malformation
• Spinal Dural Arteriovenous Fistula
• Spinal Dysraphism
• Spinal Fluid Leak
• Spontaneous Intracranial Hypotension
• Syringomyelia

• Epidural abscess
• Osteomyelitis