If you’ve been referred to a spine specialist, you might be a little intimidated by the process of talking with a spine surgeon about the prospect of surgery. We completely understand that the possibility of spine surgery can leave you feeling a little uneasy about your first surgical consult, but we want to alleviate those fears and help you thrive during that first visit. Below, we share some tips for what to expect during your first spine surgical consult, and how you can improve the process.
What Happens At A Spine Surgery Consult?
While every spine surgery consultation is a little different, they generally follow a similar pattern for the most part. Here’s a look at what you can expect to happen during your first visit with a spine surgeon.
- Patient Intake Forms – If you’re a new patient to Dr. Sinicropi, one of the first things you’ll do at the facility is fill out some new patient forms. This gives the team some basic information about your medical history and your insurance. It’s helpful if you arrive 10-15 minutes early so you can fill this information out before your appointment time officially arrives.
- Physical Exam – Your spine surgeon will ask about your symptoms and take a quick look at the issue with a physical exam. They may apply manual pressure in some areas or ask you to perform a few simple movements to see if pain worsens or alleviates. Visually seeing how your body reacts to stress or movement can help a surgeon understand the mechanics of your injury.
- Imaging Reading – If you have been referred to a specialist because a primary care physician believes you may need surgery, odds are you already had some spinal images generated through X-ray, MRI or other means. If you haven’t had these yet, we’ll have you come in so that some images can be generated. Once the surgeon has had time to review them, they’ll set up this surgical consultation. Either way, once you’re at your first spine surgery consultation, you can expect that your surgeon will have looked at your imaging results and will discuss what they see with you. This sets the basis for why they believe you’d benefit from surgery, and what they plan to do to correct your underlying issue.
- Diagnosis And Recommendations – Once all this information has been collected and examined by the specialist, they will provide a diagnosis and recommendations for treatment. In many instances, they may push for consersative treatments to see how your spine responds before recommending surgery, but it will depend on a number of individual factors. They’ll explain what they see, how they believe they can best treat it, and they’ll also cover alternatives if there’s more than one way to attack the problem.
- Your Wishes – Finally, your doctor will turn the conversation around and ask how you’d like to proceed or what you’d like to get out of treatment. Do you want to avoid surgery at all costs? Are you willing to put in the work to ensure your post-op recovery stays on track? Is your end game to be able to do certain activities again? How is back pain affecting your quality of life? Let us know, and we’ll provide you with our recommendations for how we can help you regain independence and achieve a higher quality of life.
As you can see, these consultations aren’t intimidating and can be a huge step in helping you make the right choice for your spine pain. For more information or to set one up with Dr. Sinicropi, give his office a call today at (651) 430-3800.
