Spine Care Program

Back pain is a reality for millions of people around the world. For some, it's little more than an annoyance. For others, it makes day-to-day life painful and challenging. 

The spine specialists at our multidisciplinary Spine Program can help you find relief, no matter what type of back or neck condition you’re facing. We draw on a wide range of non-surgical and surgical spine treatments so you can live with less pain and better mobility. You have an experienced team by your side at every step of treatment and recovery to offer guidance and support.

At our Spine Program, you’ll find:

• Conservative approach: We always prefer to use non-surgical treatments first to see if we can relieve back or neck pain without surgery. Our team of specialists, including physiatrists (doctors with specialized training in physical medicine and rehabilitation), pain specialists, and physical therapists, evaluate your condition and provide recommendations. 

• Coordinated care: Our team of specialists, including physiatrists, pain specialists and physical therapists evaluate your condition and work alongside other experts across our health system, such as specialized physician’s assistants, radiologists, and integrative medicine providers. This collaboration means you receive complete, seamlessly coordinated care from one source. 

• Personalized recommendations: No two people are the same, and their care plans shouldn’t be either. We consider the big picture — your diagnosis, pain level, overall health, and activity level — when offering spine treatment options. 

• Focus on quality: We have earned national recognition with Blue Distinction® Center for Spine Surgery status from Blue Cross Blue Shield and Center of Excellence designation from some of the nation’s top employers. These distinctions illustrate our commitment to delivering high-quality care and excellent outcomes.  

• Leading-edge treatments: We maintain our reputation for excellence by continually looking for ways to improve your care. Our doctors use the most advanced, evidence-based treatments for back and neck conditions. They are heavily involved in research, and their many grant awards support developing new techniques to share with the healthcare community. 

• Convenience: We offer appointments with our spine doctors and physiatrists at locations throughout the Puget Sound area, making it easy to access care. We also provide streamlined visits for our out-of-town patients, no matter where you live.

If you’re experiencing back and neck pain that interferes with your life, we can help. Our experts can evaluate unexplained spine pain and help improve your function and mobility, even if you haven’t previously received a diagnosis. 

Back and neck pain often results from aging, arthritis, overuse, or weak muscles. Symptoms can also be related to more complex conditions such as spine injuries or curvatures. Our deep and broad expertise means we can treat any spine condition, no matter how common or severe. 

We care for: 

• Sciatica
• Back and neck injuries 
• Scoliosis and other spinal curvatures
• Herniated discs
• Spinal stenosis 
• Spondylosis 
• Spinal tumors
• Congenital spine conditions
• Spondylolisthesis and other spinal instability

It’s a common myth that back surgery is the only way to permanently “fix” a back problem. But we rarely recommend surgery as a first-line treatment unless a spinal malformation, injury or tumor requires it. Instead, our doctors focus on non-surgical spine treatments first. Your conservative care plan may include a mix of physical therapy, medications, injections, massage therapy, and other interventions.

We specialize in using minimally invasive techniques whenever possible to get you back to your routine faster. Minimally invasive spine surgery helps you heal faster, with less pain and downtime. We're also experts in complex spine surgery for serious back and neck injuries, spinal curvatures and other conditions. 

If you do need spine surgery, you can rest easy — our surgeons are some of the best in the country. In fact, we have Center of Excellence designation from some of the nation’s top employers, so their employees can access the high-quality care we provide. Learn more about the Centers of Excellence program at Virginia Mason Franciscan Health.

Keep up to date with our ongoing Virginia Mason Franciscan Health Spine Research Newsletter. These newsletters will update you on the following:

• Recent publications
• Progress of ongoing studies
• Future research ideas that we are planning
• Introductions to various team members and students
• Informing you on opportunities to support our research, mentorship programs, and academic events
• Giving us feedback on our efforts and various studies 
• Providing you opportunities to ask us questions and learn more about specific areas of our work

We still have so much to learn as we tackle some of the biggest obstacles in spine care and improve how we care for our future patients. Thank you for your ongoing support!

Contact us to learn more about the Spine Program or to schedule an appointment with a specialist.