Standing on the bank of the Dead Sea seemed like an opportune time to introduce my series on alternative treatments for back and neck pain.

There are so many different options in the world of alternative medicine- some are wonderfully effective, and some, well- I will let you judge for yourself. This series will not be like some of the others, which came out over a short period of time. This will be an ongoing feature which will recur from time to time. I will not only review some of the more popular approaches like acupuncture and prolotherapy, but I will show you some of the more esoteric approaches as well. I hope you will stop in and check them out.

Please, keep those cards and letters coming- your input helps to make the site more interesting and fun.

Thanks for stopping by,

-Andy

Our primary purpose for the trip was to spend time with Donna’s family, which we did- and they are all such lovely people- we just had such a great time. My kids met some of their cousins for the first time, and had an opportunity to really bond with their great grandmother- something few of us are fortunate enough to be able to do.

We traveled all over much of the country, hitting many cities and historical sites- in six days we hung out in Tel Aviv, visited Haifa, the Kinneret, Afula, Nazareth, Ein Gedi, and Jerusalem. In terms of historical and religious sites we visited the Kotel (the Western Wall), Yardenit- a Christian holy site on the Jordan River thought to be close to where Christ was Baptized, the stunning Baha’i Gardens, the Via Dolorosa, Mount Massada, and more.

I had a chance to reconnect with a friend I hadn’t seen in 25 years, as well as some other friends who grew up in Israel, or moved there as adults. It was really interesting to get the perspective on Israel by Americans who now live there.

We all had an amazing time, and I hope to be able to return soon. I will be posting pictures of some of the places we visited with posts over the next few weeks. I look forward to continuing to give you great info on back and neck pain over the coming months.

Thanks for visiting!

-Andy

Jerusalem- the geographical and spiritual intersection of many Western religions.

discreplacement2

As I related in the video post, the disc replacement is a relatively new compared to most of what’s out there. It is a pretty elaborate procedure, and the recovery time will vary largely based upon the overall health, weight, age, and fitness of the patient prior to the surgery.

Below is an image of the prosthetic device itself.

One type of replacement disc prosthesis.

Thanks for visiting, in the next installment of this surgery series, I will review the foraminotomy and a brief wrap up. Look for more posts from Israel this week.

Best,

Andy