Summary
A patient from Arkansas had been battling chronic lower back pain for 20 years, cycling through stretching, physical therapy, and chiropractic care with no lasting relief. By December of the prior year his condition had become so severe he could barely walk from his truck to work, his left leg would drag by the time he reached his office, and he spent his days confined to a specially adjusted chair or a recliner at home. After being offered only fusion by an orthopedic surgeon and discectomies by a neurosurgeon — neither of which he felt was the right answer — he continued researching and discovered Deuk Spine Institute. He submitted his MRI for review, was confirmed as a candidate, and traveled to Melbourne, Florida, where Dr. Ara Deukmedjian performed the Deuk Laser Disc Repair® on two lumbar discs. Less than 24 hours after surgery, he was completely pain-free, had showered and returned for his follow-up on his own, and was heading home to Arkansas the next morning.
Transcript
Dr. Ara Deukmedjian: I’m sitting with one of my patients who traveled from Arkansas to Florida to have his back fixed. You had that done just less than 24 hours ago. How are you feeling today?
Patient: Feeling very good, very good. No pain — the surgery went very well. I’ve got an incision about like that.
Dr. Ara Deukmedjian: A quarter inch?
Patient: Yeah. All I had to do was lay there and let you do your job.
Dr. Ara Deukmedjian: You’ve had back pain now for 20 years, you said, right?
Patient: Yeah.
Dr. Ara Deukmedjian: What have you done over the years to treat it, and did they work?
Patient: I’ve done all sorts of stretching, physical therapy type things. I even went to a chiropractor for a while. Nothing worked. Might feel better for a day or two, but nothing worked. Then finally last December it got excruciating. The most that I could do then was to lay in my recliner and try to find a comfortable position. And then at work there’s a special chair there for me to sit in — to get into a position that I could stand it. To even walk in from my truck to work was an effort, and my left leg would be flopping by the time I got into work. So it’s been pretty bad — it was pretty bad.
Dr. Ara Deukmedjian: And do you still have that same pain in your back?
Patient: I don’t have any pain right now. No pain.
Dr. Ara Deukmedjian: Are you happy about that?
Patient: I’m very happy about that. Very happy.
Dr. Ara Deukmedjian: Yeah, I’m happy too.
Patient: I went to an orthopedic surgeon in Arkansas and he said, well, we’ll do a fusion. And I went to a neurosurgeon in Arkansas and he said, well, we’ll do discectomies. I didn’t like the sound of any of those, and I knew that wasn’t a solution, so I kept searching and searching and I found you. And we did your MRI review. I sent in my MRI and you guys told me what you could do — that I was a good candidate for it. Came down here and I’ve gotten it done.
Dr. Ara Deukmedjian: And you can see in our video that we had the laser go in there and clean out those two discs in your lower back, and it went really well. We didn’t have any problems. We lost maybe a few drops of blood — that was all. No hospitalization?
Patient: None. I went to the hotel last night, got up this morning, took a shower, and came back here for a checkup.
Dr. Ara Deukmedjian: When did you realize the pain in your back and leg were gone?
Patient: Right after the surgery. You know, once you do your research, get out there, hit enough concrete walls, and get tired of it — then come here and get it done, get it taken care of. This is easy and it’s effective.
Dr. Ara Deukmedjian: When do you guys head back to Arkansas?
Patient: Tomorrow morning.
Dr. Ara Deukmedjian: Well, enjoy yourself.
Patient: I sure will. Thank you very much.
Dr. Ara Deukmedjian: You’re welcome, sir. My pleasure.
Patient: Thank you.
Dr. Ara Deukmedjian: Thanks for sharing your story.
The Better Way: Deuk Laser Disc Repair®
This patient traveled from Arkansas to Deuk Spine Institute after 20 years of chronic lower back pain and left leg weakness that had failed to respond to physical therapy, chiropractic care, and stretching and after being offered only spinal fusion or discectomy by local surgeons. Dr. Ara Deukmedjian performed the Deuk Laser Disc Repair® (DLDR) on two lumbar herniated discs causing his chronic lower back pain and sciatica. Eliminating both pain sources in a single outpatient procedure with no hospital stay, no blood loss, and no opioid pain medication required.