Blog Archive

It started as a minor nuisance — occasionally, you felt some numbness in one of your hands or maybe some tingling that traveled down your arm. Now, this minor nuisance is becoming more of an issue as the numbness is more constant, interfering with your ability to use your arm...

As a parent, you understand that your role is to protect your child and ensure they have the best start in life. Unfortunately, adolescent idiopathic scoliosis has thrown up a hurdle in your child’s development and you’re taking steps to correct the issue through surgery. We assure you that you’re...

There’s a simple explanation for why a problem in your lower back can lead to leg pain — your spine is ground zero for most of your peripheral nervous system as 31 pairs of spinal nerve roots exit your spine and branch out to your entire body. If something irritates...

You were in an automobile accident — a car that was going too fast and didn’t brake in time rear-ended you, and your head was rocked back and forth. Now, your neck is in a good deal of pain, and you suspect that you experienced whiplash. This scenario is one...

You’ve been in a constant battle against lower back pain for years now, and you just want to find a solution that allows you to get back to living your best life. That solution may lie in spinal decompression and fusion surgery, which is the gold standard for relieving chronic...

You’ve decided that enough is enough, and you want to put an end to your back issues through spine surgery. You're certainly not alone — each year in the United States, about half a million people undergo lumbar spine surgery.  Whether we’re performing a spinal decompression and fusion surgery, revision...

Pain with certain movements and pain that shoots down one of your legs—these are two of the more common signs that you’ve developed sciatica, a painful nerve entrapment issue in your lower back. If this is your first go-around with sciatica, the fact that you developed this type of back...

When a person makes the decision to undergo spine surgery, they don’t do so lightly, but their hopes are high for much-needed relief from their back pain. Imagine that relief wasn’t on the other side. Unfortunately, between 10% and 46% of people who undergo spine surgery face failed back surgery...

Throwing your back out, sciatica, arthritis — these are all common drivers of lower back pain, which affects up to 74 million Americans at any given time. We’re going to add sacroiliac (SI) joint dysfunction to the long list, which isn’t well known, even though experts estimate that it’s responsible...

There’s a long list of things that kids grow out of, even some health issues like chronic ear infections, but we’re afraid that scoliosis isn’t one of them. If we have diagnosed your child with scoliosis, which describes an abnormal curvature in their spine, there are two things we want...

Surgery has long been viewed as a sort of last resort for improving your health as this solution isn’t exactly low impact. While this might have once been the case across the board, advanced surgical technologies allow the medical community to take a far more minimally invasive approach to resolve...

If you're reading this, the odds are good that you have some experience with back pain — an experience you’d rather not repeat or at least keep to a minimum. You're not alone — about 65 million people in the United States have wrestled with back pain recently. As people...

Having surgery on your spine probably wasn’t something you entered into lightly, but the struggle to move without back pain or neck pain drove you to this decision, and your hopes were high. Unfortunately, things didn’t go as planned, and you still struggle. The fact is that more than half...

While a pain in the neck isn’t exactly ideal, at least it’s confined to that one small area of your body. When your neck pain is due to a pinched nerve, your symptoms may extend far beyond your neck and down through your shoulders, into your arms, and even your chest can be...

You have a diseased disc in your neck or in your lower back and this one, seemingly small, problem has hijacked your life. From considerable localized pain to symptoms that are radiating into your arm or leg, your level of discomfort is at an all-time high and you want long-term...

There’s no getting around the fact that aging can exact a physical toll — the wear-and-tear on your body over the years will leave its mark. To illustrate this point, about 90% of people over the age of 60 have some degree of degeneration in the 23 intervertebral discs in their spine....

We’re going to dispense with the suspense and get right to the questions we pose in the title of this blog about whether spinal stenosis is reversible — it is not. While there may be no way to turn back the clock on spinal stenosis, this doesn’t mean that you’re without...

For the nearly one-quarter (23%) of the world’s population who deal with chronic lower back pain, the search for relief is a top priority. If you find yourself among this number and you want your old life back — the one in which you weren’t limited by back pain —...

Surgery may not be anyone’s ideal choice, but when it can stop chronic and life-limiting pain, it can be a very solid choice. This is often the case with spine surgery, which can help relieve back, neck, and radiating symptoms in your arms or legs. If you’re opting to have...

Sure, your neck holds up your head, but it’s also responsible for enabling many of your senses — you turn your head to see, hear, and even smell. When there’s a problem in your neck, not only is the discomfort hard to bear, your world can become much smaller. Such...

Many of us associate a herniated disc with the lower back, but the problem can crop up just as easily in your cervical spine, or neck. Just as a problematic disc in your lumbar spine can lead to sensations in your leg, symptoms can develop in your arm when the...

You want to stand tall, but pain in your lower back when you’re upright is forcing you over into a hunched position. This is one of the classic signs of lumbar spinal stenosis, which affects about 11% of older adults in the United States.  The good news is that 80% of...

You wake each morning and, instead of jumping out of bed with exuberance, you move gingerly thanks to back or neck pain (or both). It may be of some comfort to know that up to 23% of adults around the world are experiencing the same chronic spine discomfort. Since entering a New...

If you’ve had a herniated disc before, you understand that it is a painful condition that’s best avoided in the first place. If you haven’t, take our word for it. Whatever the case, you want to understand whether you’re at risk for a herniated disc down the road. To help,...

When you lay your head down at night, you hope you’ll feel re-energized the next morning and ready to take on the world. Instead, you’re greeted with a sore and stiff neck that isn’t making a great start to your day. There are many reasons why your neck may be...

The teenage years can be tumultuous under the best of circumstances, but when your child is dealing with scoliosis, the challenges become even harder. Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) affects 1% to 4% of adolescents, with girls outpacing boys by eight times. What all of these preteens and teens have in...

More than 400 million people around the globe have symptomatic degenerative disc disease (DDD), making it one of the leading causes of disability worldwide. While there are discs all along your spine, some are more prone to this condition than others. To help you better understand DDD and where it’s likely to...

Your arm appears fine, but you’re experiencing pain and maybe other symptoms in the limb, such as numbness and tingling. If this sounds familiar, the problem may not be located in your arm at all, but, rather, in your spine. As spine health experts, the team here at Texas Spine...

While a massage can be one of the most effective relaxation tools, targeted massage therapy can also play an invaluable role in your health and wellness. In fact, according to a survey conducted by the American Massage Therapy Association, 83% of respondents think massage should be viewed as a form of...

In the past two years since the COVID-19 pandemic first struck, almost 60% of those who can work from home have made the switch and now work most of the time remotely. This sudden and dramatic shift to remote work has been a welcome one for many, as they’re able to enjoy...

As your foundational structure, your spine is incredibly important to your overall health and you want to do all you can to make sure it’s in good shape. Unfortunately, as you age, the wear-and-tear can add up and cause certain structures in your spine to break down, which perfectly describes...

Tingling in your hands, pain that shoots down one of your legs, loss of grip — these are all symptoms of a condition called radiculopathy. While these symptoms develop in areas that are fairly far from your spine, the underlying cause of the problem typically lies in your neck or lower...

Spondylolisthesis — the odds are good that you’ve never heard of this condition until we diagnosed it as the source of your back pain. Unlike many back problems, this condition can strike at any age — 6-7% of people under the age of 18 have isthmic spondylolisthesis and degenerative spondylolisthesis...

We often don’t fully appreciate how much we rely on a certain area of our body until it’s compromised, which can definitely be said of the neck. Just think, you use your neck to see and hear the world around you so when pain and/or stiffness develops, your senses may...

Your lower back is in considerable discomfort and hijacking your life, limiting your movements and your ability to move freely. There are many roads that lead to lower back pain and we’re going to focus on one of the more common ones here — a strain in your lower back....

Humans are no strangers to the occasional discomfort in their necks and backs, which makes sense given the enormous workloads that these areas take on. One of the more common problems are herniated discs, which come with a unique set of symptoms that set this condition apart from other back...

You watch with amazement as your child begins to blossom into a young adult and it’s all you can do to keep up with the changes — both physical and mental. Our goal here isn’t to add to your list of concerns, but any child can develop scoliosis and it’s...

You’re hesitant to move around much thanks to pain that develops in certain positions — and the pain is widespread, traveling from your lower back and down into one of your legs. This is the hallmark of a condition called sciatica, which involves the largest nerve in your body that,...

The role your spine plays as the foundational structure of your entire musculoskeletal system is fairly obvious, but its other role as the primary conduit for your central nervous system only becomes clear when there’s a problem. A good example of this is pain or other symptoms in your arm,...

The symptoms that come with a herniated disc can make life very uncomfortable, if not downright painful, which is why you want to avoid the problem in the first place. One of the first steps toward warding off a herniated disc is to understand the causes and contributing factors. To...

From the moment they exit the womb, children are on a race toward adulthood, physically and mentally. As you anxiously follow their growth, you notice that something may be amiss with their spine. You’re concerned, especially considering that three million cases of scoliosis are diagnosed each year, largely among adolescents....

Americans are no strangers to back and neck pain — lifetime chances of American adults developing lower back pain alone is a whopping 80%. While there are many roads that lead to problems along your spine, stenosis ranks among the more common. As spine health experts, the team here at...

Your spine not only supplies support and mobility for your body, it’s also the main conduit for your nervous system. When a nerve along your spinal column becomes compressed or pinched, it can lead to a group of symptoms that we categorize under radiculopathy. To help you determine whether your...

To say that back and neck pain are common would be a mild understatement. In fact, 80% of the population in the United States experiences problems with back pain at some point in their lives and it’s one of the leading causes of missed work days. While there are any...

Consider this: around 80% of US adults deal with some form of lower back pain at some time, and 20% of people who have an acute problem in their lower back go on to develop chronic pain. Taking a broader view, disability due to back pain worldwide has grown by...

It starts slowly and you begin to feel tingling, or nothing at all, in your hands. Or, you wake up one day and have trouble moving around because of shooting pain down one of your legs. These issues are collectively known as radiculopathy and the problem often starts in your...

The human body is an incredibly complex structure in which everything is somehow connected, whether through your bones or muscles or through networks like your nervous system. Thanks to this integration, problems in one area can lead to symptoms in another, which is certainly true of your neck and arms....

Your spine plays many roles in terms of support and mobility, but it also provides passage for your peripheral nervous system, which can be made abundantly clear when one of the nerves is compromised. Also called a pinched nerve, which describes the problem perfectly, this occurrence can lead to debilitating...

Adolescence is an extraordinarily tumultuous time as a child’s mental and physical health undergo significant changes. Even the slightest deviation from a typical developmental path can lead to self-esteem problems, which is especially true of scoliosis. Here at Texas Spine Consultants, Dr. Michael Ware Hennessy and our team understand the...

When you’re hobbled by leg pain, the world becomes exponentially harder to navigate and even the simplest task becomes an exercise in frustration. To regain your pain-free mobility, the first step is to identify the cause of your leg pain, and there are any number of conditions that can lead...

Neck pain can be extremely debilitating — not only does the discomfort cause problems, but you can lose range of motion, which affects everything from how you see to how you sleep. In many cases, neck pain is caused by degenerative disc disease, which is a problem that gets worse,...

Your spine is the primary channel for your nervous system, which means a problem anywhere along its length can lead to pain that radiates out into your extremities. Called cervical radiculopathy, this problem occurs when a nerve in your neck is compromised, which can lead to symptoms that are both...

The discomfort that accompanies a problematic disc is one that you’ll not soon forget. Whether the problem is in your neck or your lower back, the pain can radiate down into your arms or legs, depending upon the location of the troublesome disc, making movement difficult. At Texas Spine Consultants,...

Consider that your spine is the foundational structure of your entire body, and much of this enormous workload falls to one small area — your lower back. This area of your back is not only responsible for much of your body’s support and mobility, it also provides a wide range...

As the primary conduit for your nervous system, your spine has nerve roots that branch out along its entire length. When you pinch one of these nerve roots, you can experience a wide range of symptoms, which are divided into different radiculopathies that are distinguished by their location. At Texas...

Americans are no strangers to lower back pain as 80% of adults report having some experience with the problem during their lives. More alarming is the fact that 20% of those who have acute lower back pain go on to struggle with chronic lower back pain. To avoid becoming part...

Think about the seven small vertebrae that make up your cervical spine and the enormous workload they’re under — they not only carry the weight of your head, they also provide your head with critical range of motion. Over time, your neck may begin to succumb to the aging process...

Americans are hardly strangers to lower back pain — in fact, 80% of the population reports having some experience with pain in their lower backs at some point in their lives. While lower back pain can develop for a number of different reasons, a herniated disc certainly ranks among the...

No doubt about it, your legs endure a lot of stress throughout your life, leading to a general wear and tear that may result in pain. However, not all sources of leg pain are caused by issues related to the joints, muscles, ligaments, tendons, or cartilage that make up your...

Pins and needles sensations in your hands and feet may cause you to worry and wonder what’s going on. Although sometimes this can simply be caused by a lack of circulation due to pressure or cold temperatures, it could be a sign of a more significant nerve disorder.  A proper...

If you have degenerative disc disease, you know how awful it can feel and how desperate you can get when all you want is relief from the pain. This is a common experience for Americans —  one study showed that one-third of adults ages 40-59 have evidence of degenerative disc...

An injury that affects your shoulders, arms, wrists, or hands can interfere greatly with your daily routine. When the injury is obvious, such as a fractured wrist, treatment focuses on reducing your pain, healing the injury, and getting you moving again. What do you do, though, when there is no...

Scoliosis causes an abnormal curvature of the spine. It’s extremely common, affecting an estimated 2%-3% of the US population. While most people who have mild scoliosis find that it doesn’t interfere with their lives, some children aren’t so lucky.  At Texas Spine Consultants, Dr. Michael Hennessy provides early diagnosis and...

If you’ve pulled a muscle in your leg or have a sprain or a strain, you know exactly why you hurt. But often, leg pain doesn’t present an obvious source, and you may limp along without getting it treated. Many times, the source can be traced to your back. When...

If you’re like most, you spend a significant amount of time hunched over a smartphone, tablet, or computer. Often, the time spent using technology can result in neck pain, referred to as tech neck. Tech neck is the pain or stiffness that occurs when your neck is bent forward for...

Unexplained physical pain in your arms and legs can develop into one of the biggest barriers to living an active life. Many of Dr. Michael Hennessy’s patients at Texas Spine Consultants in Addison and Plano, Texas, have a herniated disc. This common and painful condition results when pressure on the...

Chronic neck and back pain not only affects your physical health, but your mental and emotional health too, leaving you feeling defeated and desperate for any treatment that provides a glimmer of hope. Although injection therapy may seem like the solution you’ve been seeking, we here at Texas Spine Consultants...

About 80% of adult Americans experience back pain at some point in their lives. For a lucky few, these incidents are isolated and short. For others, it’s a lifelong relationship with pain management. In rare cases, there’s a physical problem about which you can do nothing. For the majority, however,...

Scoliosis can sound like a frightening diagnosis, but it’s much more common than you may realize, and usually doesn’t cause additional health problems. Here at Texas Spine Consultants in Addison and Plano, Michael Ware Hennessy, MD, is a highly skilled orthopedic surgeon who specializes in diagnosing and managing scoliosis for...

Pain can be a useful tool that your body uses to indicate something’s gone wrong. Chronic pain, however, can outlast its usefulness and greatly interfere with the way you live your life. The goal for treating chronic pain includes identifying the source of the pain and providing relief from your...