Helping Our Vets Recover from Neck & Back Pain
Military members living with neck and back pain can now get affordable treatment with their military medical insurance. Physician Partners of America Minimally Invasive Spine Group accepts Tricare, including Tricare Prime, for laser spine procedures. This includes treatment for active duty, reserves and retired military.
Laser spine surgeon, Dr. James St. Louis, is a U.S. Army veteran and has been treating fellow service members for 30 years. The surgical founder of Laser Spine Institute, he is pleased to extend this groundbreaking outpatient surgical option to patients at Physician Partners of America in Florida and beyond.
“Laser surgery allows patients to return to their activities within days or weeks instead of months, as is the case with open surgery – and that is in their best interest,” says Dr. St. Louis.
Causes of military back injury
The physical stresses of combat and the rigors of training – carrying weapons and heavy packs, running, jumping, marching and parachuting – can cause neck, back and musculoskeletal pain. Trips and falls are other common culprits. Left untreated, these and other spinal problems can lead to limited civilian job prospects and disability.
Physician Partners of America can evaluate military patients for all of these conditions. “I see a lot of herniated discs and compressed nerves in military patients,” says Dr. St. Louis. “Because they’re generally young and healthy, we can help them, in selected cases, without the need for spinal fusion.”
It also eliminates the need for opioid pain killers because it targets on the treatment area specifically without the side effects of oral medications. The methods used in PPOA’s minimally invasive laser spine surgery allow for a fast recovery.
Most patients are able to walk out of the surgery center the same day and resume activities in days or weeks, as opposed to months with traditional surgery. That – and the affordability that Tricare insurance offers – are a plus for military members.
“Military patients are the best patients,” says Dr. St. Louis. “They are motivated to get back to work. They’re generally healthy, have a good work ethic, and want to get back to a productive life.”
Article by Nanette Wiser