300 Congress St, Suite 304, Quincy, MA 02169

For Physicians

Quincy Spine Center can be a great resource for primary care physicians, orthopedic surgeons and neurosurgeons who want their patients to receive additional expertise in non-surgical treatment options for back and neck pain. You can refer patients to us by calling 617-773-6300 or by emailing info@QuincySpineCenter.com.

Bundled Case Rate Mini-Brochure

Mini-Brochure

 

How We Can Help Your Practice:

“Back and neck pain sufferers can consume a great deal of time for the primary care physician. Our spine center brings nonsurgical spine care and spine therapists together under one roof to diagnose and provide treatment options for spine patients. We strive to be a resource for the primary care physician. We take the time to educate patients and so they understand the cause of their back pain, and how best to resolve it. We emphasize the importance of movement and getting back to activity. We downplay and discourage passive, palliative treatments and focus the patient on exercise and movement as the key to relief of back pain and prevention of the recurrent strains.”
— Dr. Richard Mazzaferro
Quincy Spine Center

SPINAL INJECTIONS CAN OFTEN RELIEVE MANY CASES OF BACK AND NECK PAIN

Managed care and employers are disturbed by treatment variation in spine surgery rates nationwide. Some parts of the nation range from 1 spine surgery per thousand population to 9 spine surgeries per thousand.

Too many times patients will go to surgeon-only practices, and the result can be an immediate prescription of surgery — even though there are no red flag symptoms like progressive neurological deficit or cauda equina. Patients with radicular pain in an arm or leg can also be sped along too quickly to surgery when many of these patients can become asymptomatic with a single spinal injection. Too many times, patients never learn that there are viable nonsurgical treatment options that can make weakness, numbness or radiating pain disappear. That’s the problem with spine care.

Payors, employers and work comp insurance companies nationally have encouraged the use of physical medicine to exhaust nonsurgical treatment options first.

For example, many times patients with radicular pain or weakness into a leg or arm, can resolve their symptoms by having steroidal medication injected around the nerve root which reduces inflammation and pain. An injury or strain can cause tissues to temporarily inflame, and the spinal structures can cause an impingement on the nerve root, like a ring on a swollen finger. By reducing inflammation, we’ve addressed the problem, sometimes permanently.

Spinal injections, consequently, serve two purposes: diagnostic and therapeutic. If the symptoms improve, then the patient can be bridged into spine therapy and then back to activity.
However, if the symptoms don’t improve, the injection provides important diagnostic information to the surgeon who will then consult with the patient on their surgical options. When patients have exhausted their nonsurgical treatment options, Quincy Spine Center can then quickly refer the patient to affiliated fellowship-trained spine surgeons who use minimally invasive spine surgery techniques.

In our opinion, the solution to the problem of back and neck pain isn’t a single specialty silo approach, but rather a multidisciplinary approach that combines spine surgeons with physcial medicine and spine therapists so the patient receives the best possible care.

By referring a patient to Quincy Spine Center you will provide them a better understanding of their back or neck pain problem, and you will help the patient exhaust their non-surgical treatment options in advance of spine surgery.

Dr. Richard Mazzaferro

Board-certified Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation

Dr. Richard Mazzaferro is a board-certified specialist in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation with more than 10 years experience in spine. Dr. Mazzaferro is proficient in the use of lumbar and cervical interventional pain procedures. In 2002, he finished his residency training at the Harvard Medical School’s Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. He is the founder of Quincy Spine Center.

Understanding Symptoms

Pain is not a good indicator of when to see a doctor for a spine problem. While a back spasm can be excruciating, the good news is that ligament strain doesn’t require surgery.

Quincy Bundled Rate

Find out more about a simple 20 minute office procedure — at a $500 bundled rate — that can eliminate the need for spine surgery.

Home Remedy Book

Get our 36-page Home Remedy Book that has special stretches that relieve many pain symptoms.