Local patient completes Seattle Marathon following spine surgery
December 05, 2013
SPOKANE, Wash. (Dec. 5, 2013) – Two ruptured spinal discs left local patient and avid marathoner David Smith with excruciating pain in his shoulder and arm.
“I couldn’t even sit in a chair or lie in bed,” Smith says. “Walking was a long, painful experience of a few excruciating yards at a time.”
Wear and tear over years of activity had caused two discs to rupture in Smith’s neck. He underwent cervical decompression surgery with Dr. John K. Shuster, spine surgeon at Northwest Orthopaedic Specialists, to repair the ruptured discs.
“During David’s spinal decompression, I removed his damaged discs, and replaced them with bone grafts,” Dr. Shuster says. “This procedure is effective in relieving pressure along the spinal cord and nerve roots and decreasing pains.”
Following the successful surgery, Smith has returned to training and competing in local races, recently completing his first 50-mile race, setting a personal record at the Spokane Half Marathon, and successfully completing the Seattle Marathon on Dec. 1.
For more information regarding spine injuries, conditions and treatment options, please call Northwest Orthopaedic Specialists at (509) 344-2663.
Committed to providing exceptional specialty bone, joint and muscle care through 27 highly trained doctors, Northwest Orthopaedic Specialists has remained the leader in orthopaedic care in the Pacific Northwest for more than 50 years. The doctors and staff of Northwest Orthopaedic Specialists pride themselves on continuously delivering compassionate, individualized care to each and every patient for the treatment of back and neck, shoulder, elbow, hand and wrist, hip, knee, foot and ankle, sports medicine, joint replacement and revision, interventional pain management and trauma and fracture care. For more information on Northwest Orthopaedic Specialists and its doctors, visit www.nworthospecialists.com, “like” Northwest Orthopaedic Specialists on Facebook or follow @NWOrthopaedics on Twitter.
