NEW AND IMPROVED SPINE SURGERY
Jordan Feinman is active again after a new type of surgery relieved his severe back pain.
THE INNOVATIVE “AWAKE SPINAL FUSION” PROCEDURE PUTS PATIENTS BACK IN ACTION FASTER.
“I
had 20 years of back pain that got progressively worse over a short period of time,” says Jordan Feinman, 41, of Old Bridge Township. His condition affected his job as a union electrician, which requires working with a team to manually move two-ton spools of construction cable. At home, he began missing out on activities with his two busy daughters, ages 9 and 11. Jordan’s pain was the result of spondylolisthesis, a condition in which vertebrae (the series of bones that make up the spine) slip out of place and put pressure on nerves. “The pain became excruciating over about 18 months,” he says. “By July of 2020, even after physical therapy and steroid injections, I could hardly walk.” His physician referred him to Alok Sharan, MD, an orthopedic spine surgeon at Clara Maass Medical Center. That’s when he learned about a new type of minimally invasive surgery called awake spinal fusion, which was pioneered by Dr. Sharan. “Dr. Sharan explained the new procedure, and I was ready to have it,” Healthy Together
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