Interdisciplinary Spine Conference held in Fort Wayne, Indiana

On Sept. 19-20, physicians gathered at the Grand Wayne Center to discuss the care of today’s top back pain condition: spinal stenosis with a special session on cervical spine myelopathy. Hosted by James M. Cox I, DC, DACBR, FICC, FIANM(H), of Fort Wayne, Indiana, the Interdisciplinary Spine Conference 2020: Spinal Stenosis drew experienced health care providers from varied professions together. The goal of the conference was to encourage discussion of the care and clinical outcomes for spinal stenosis patients who have a choice of health care providers to best manage their spine-related pain. Specialists from different branches of medicine stepped out of their individual silos to bring improved patient care for spinal stenosis to the patient population.

The multidisciplinary presenters included the following:

James Dozier, MD (Fort Wayne), neurosurgeon with the Parkview Physicians Group, presented neurosurgical options and outcomes of cervical spine myelopathy.

Ajay Gupta, MD (Fort Wayne), neurologist at Fort Wayne Neurology, virtually discussed with Cox cervical spine myelopathy and its treatment options like B12 therapy and decompression surgery.

Patrick Battaglia, DC, DACBR (St. Louis, Missouri) virtually presented cases of cervical spine myelopathy including the role of radiology in its diagnosis.

George Joachim, DC, DABCR (Fort Wayne) presented rehabilitation and exercise for spine pain patients.

Kurt Olding, DC, FIANM (Minster, Ohio) presented two sessions: one on the thoracic disc herniation from symptoms, diagnosis, treatment and outcome and one on the status of a research study at Miami University (Ohio) and Parker College of Chiropractic on the effect of Cox® Technic on balance in older spinal stenosis patients.

Lee Hazen, DC, and Cheri Hazen, RN (Temecula, California) virtually shared the integrative medicine approach to helping patients with back pain live their lives.

Luigi Albano, DC (Windsor, Canada) virtually presented a novel approach of treating hip, knee and shoulder pain with gentle distraction.

Ralph Kruse, DC, FIANM (West Palm Beach, Florida) virtually presented research outcomes of several studies using The Cox® Technic system of Spinal Pain Management as well as ongoing and future planned research studies on stenosis at the Keiser University College of Chiropractic Medicine.

Chris Osterlitz, DC (Oregon) and Robert Hayden, DC (Georgia) presented cases from their practices managed with Cox® Technic and other non-surgical options to manage their spinal stenosis patients’ back pain.

Cox presented several talks on the state of spinal stenosis and cervical spine myelopathy, specifically, and their care today as far as symptoms, costs, options and outcomes.

A special dinner was hosted on Saturday evening to continue the discussion and to raise funds for spinal stenosis research.