Doctors call it degenerative disc disease.
No matter the terminology, it literally is a pain in the neck. Each year, more than 150,000 people choose to have the problem taken care of, through a sensitive surgery performed just millimeters away from the spinal cord on the cervical portion of the spine, the area on the neck closest to the head. For the first time, an interbody cervical fusion device is available in Southwest Verginia at Lewis-Gale Medical Center that puts a new twist on how cervical spine fusions are performed. Riebel is one of the first surgeons in the country, as well as the first surgeon in the Roanoke Valley, to use the new device. It provides strenght and stability to promote fusion of the vertebrae.