Spine
Restoring Comfort, Form, and Mobility
Back pain and neck pain affect millions of people, and their care requires an integrated approach. The Och Spine at NewYork-Presbyterian Westchester specialists are here to help reduce pain, increase your mobility, and speed your return to daily activities. We provide comprehensive and coordinated care for all types of spinal conditions in adults and children, from common arthritic and degenerative spine disorders to spinal deformity correction and spinal tumors. As a part of the Och Spine program, one of the world’s leading centers for the treatment of back and neck conditions, we bring the most advanced treatments and care to Westchester.
About Och Spine
Och Spine is run jointly by the orthopedic and neurosurgical spine services at Columbia University Irving Medical Center and Weill Cornell Medicine with Columbia experts seeing patients in Westchester. As leaders in using both minimally invasive and complex surgical techniques, Och Spine experts work together to determine the best approach to treating issues such as scoliosis, spinal tumors, degenerative spine disorders, and spinal trauma.
Non-operative Treatment First
Your care team will first determine if you can be helped without surgery, using approaches such as physical therapy, pain management, and alternative treatments.
Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery
If nonsurgical therapies are not effective, you may benefit from surgery. Whenever possible, our surgeons use the latest minimally invasive surgical techniques, operating through incisions less than one inch in size.
Complex Spine Surgery
When needed, our surgeons also perform the most complex spinal reconstruction operations in the world. People whose spinal disorders are considered too complex to be corrected in other centers can often be treated by our surgeons.
A Commitment to Managing Your Post-Operative Pain
We try to prevent pain before it happens. Our doctors work closely with our anesthesiologists to create a pain regimen tailored to your needs, taking into account your age, medical history, and potential side effects. The better your pain is controlled, the more you'll be able to do as you begin your recovery.
Rehabilitation to Get You Moving
Our physical medicine and rehabilitation physicians and our physical therapists help you start moving as soon as is safe to improve your flexibility and strength after your surgery. Specialists from our rehabilitation team design a customized regimen of therapy just for you, one that meets your individual needs and puts you on the road to recovery. You can continue your physical therapy at one of our centers or at a center closer to your home. If needed, we'll also help you arrange for admission into a rehabilitation facility after you leave the hospital.
Treatments and Procedures
Comprehensive Care for Spine Disorders of All Types
The Och Spine care teams treat the full range of disorders affecting the neck (cervical spine), mid-back (thoracic spine), and lower back (lumbar spine), including:
Herniated discs
Discs between the vertebrae can rupture (herniate), especially as you age. If you have a herniated disc, we may treat you using:
- Non-operative care. Physical therapy, anti-inflammatory medications, and other nonsurgical approaches, such as spinal injections and nerve blocks performed by our team of pain management physicians.
- Minimally invasive spine surgery. If nonsurgical treatments don't work, we may recommend one of several options:
- Minimally invasive, outpatient microdiscectomy to remove the herniated portions of a disc pressing on a spinal nerve
- Disc replacement, also known as disc arthroplasty
- Spinal fusion, where an unstable spine is stabilized to eliminate the pain associated with spinal instability.
Spinal stenosis
Narrowing of the spaces within your spine can put pressure on nerves, causing pain, weakness, numbness, tingling, and problems with coordination.
- Non-operative care. Before recommending surgery, we try nonsurgical treatment options, including physical therapy, activity modification, and steroid injection.
- Spine surgery. The goal is to relieve pressure on your spinal cord or nerves by creating more space within your spine. This can be achieved by:
- Decompression of the nerves and spinal cord, where no implants are used and the spine is stable
- Decompression of the nerves and spinal cord with stabilization (fusion), when the stenosis is caused by spinal instability
Scoliosis and kyphosis
Scoliosis and kyphosis (abnormal curvature of the spine) interfere with the normal movement of your spine and can cause pain or pressure on your spinal cord and/or nerves. Severe scoliosis and kyphosis can interfere with breathing.
- Non-operative therapy. Some people with scoliosis benefit from bracing or physical therapy. Our spine care teams include physical therapists with specialized training in the care of people with scoliosis. Our researchers are also developing a new brace that can dynamically adjust forces and movements on the spine in three dimensions to control spinal curves in young people with scoliosis.
- Spine surgery. When nonsurgical therapies are not effective, our world-renowned spine surgeons can improve the alignment of your spine, reduce your pain, and restore your function. We treat people of all ages who come to us from around the world with the most severe spinal deformities, aligning their spines and restoring function and form.