Our goal at Interventional Spine & Sports Medicine), P.C., is to provide each patient with comprehensive, compassionate, and whenever possible, diagnosis specific non-surgical spine and orthopedic care. At ISSM, your care will be directed by physicians with unique training and experience. The physicians at ISSM are physiatrists, doctors of medicine board certified in physical medicine and rehabilitation (PM&R) and fellowship trained in spine and musculoskeletal medicine and interventional spine care. Our brand new stat of the art office is bright and spacious, and the efforts of our skilled office staff and clinical schedule design typically result in minimal “wait” times for our patients.
At Interventional Spine & Sports Medicine, PC, your unique non-surgical spine care experience is both comprehensive and evidence based. At your initial visit, your physician will obtain a comprehensive history and perform a detailed neurological and musculoskeletal examination. If necessary to proceed with greater diagnostic certainty, we will order the appropriate imaging studies. All images, those ordered by our practice and images brought to initial evaluations, are reviewed in detail with our patients. We feel it is most important for the patient to visualize their imaging findings firsthand and appreciate which may be clinically relevant.
Physical therapy and rehabilitation, when indicated, will be prescribed in a diagnosis specific fashion. Patients are usually referred to a team of skilled therapists, certified in particular areas of expertise, throughout the region with whom we have worked for many years. Medications are often utilized in the setting of acute pain syndromes, and the physiatrists at ISSM are skilled in the judicious use of such agents in a fashion appropriate for each patient’s presenting complaint and medical condition.
In those select cases where electrodiagnostic studies (EMG / nerve conduction studies) are indicated, these examinations will also be performed by your treating physician. Dr. Patel is board eligible in electrodiagnostic medicine, board eligible in neuromuscular medicine.
We offer a full spectrum of fluoroscopically guided spinal injection procedures in an office setting utilizing state of the art imaging. If your care involves injection procedures, you will be introduced to and will work closely with our nurse and radiology technician. We are most fortunate to have an outstanding and highly skilled clinical team which has worked together for many years. We have an excellent safety record, and we have created an environment which patients find most comfortable. Our procedural experience does not require the use of general sedation or hospital admission.
It is our clear experience that by offering all of these services for patients with acute spinal presentations, patient care and pain relief are expedited, expenses are minimized, and ultimately, more satisfactory long term outcomes are realized. As spine care experts, while our treatments offered are non-surgical, it is also our responsibility to guide appropriate candidates toward surgical consultation. In some cases, the need for such consultation is acute and in many others only after exhausting non-surgical therapies. We work closely with highly skilled regional surgeons. We serve as advocates for our patients throughout the surgical phase of care, communicate frequently and directly with your treating surgeon, and guide our patients through postoperative rehabilitation. For some patients, more chronic pain conditions are not appropriate for surgical intervention, and in these instances, your physiatrist will help guide you toward alternative therapies or less interventional and more chronic pain management specialists.
Spine medicine is ever evolving as is our understanding of the spine. As clinicians and patients we are often asked to assess the efficacy of both longstanding and more newly introduced treatments and procedures. Our goal at ISSM is to share with you, the patient, what we know, so that you can become an educated consumer of spine care and the quarterback of your own care.