The Spine Center at Johns Hopkins
offers comprehensive non-surgical and surgical treatments for the full spectrum of spinal disorders. Our experts in spine care specialize in disorders including degenerative conditions of the spine, such as cervical or lumbar spinal stenosis, cervical or lumbar disc herniation, and scoliosis or adult deformity of the spine. We have specific expertise in the management of spinal cord and spinal column tumors and also treat spinal trauma and injuries to the spine.

Our approach to degenerative conditions of the spine may include minimally invasive surgery, traditional open and spinal fusion procedures, motion preservation/disc arthroplasty/replacement, or dynamic stabilization of the spine.

The neurosurgical team at The Spine Center at Johns Hopkins sees patients at both The Johns Hopkins Hospital and the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center. Furthermore, we are fully integrated with the neurosurgical spine division of The Johns Hopkins Hospital, and therefore, our experts participate in cutting edge research in the areas of basic science and clinical trials.

Whiplash Pain? A Solid Reason, At Last

Pain, lawsuits, social withdrawal, malingering. The inability to pin whiplash down, to predict who needs extensive treatment opens a pandora's box of miseries. Many who've undergone the characteristic neck-snapping are OK in a few months. Headache, neck stiffness and other pain gradually ease. But around 20 percent still suffer a half-year later or more. And it's that group that prompted neurosurgeon Donlin Long, M.D., Ph.D., and colleagues to test a hunch on what causes the pain and follow it up with treatment.

"It's hard to define what goes wrong in whiplash. Imaging studies show nothing that's diagnostic," says Long. "Nor does a physical exam." Add whiplash's history of lawsuits and the fact that some studies show many patients stop coming to the doctor once they settle in court, and it's easy to conclude the problem smacks of malingering or that it's psychosomatic.
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