Dr Sanjiv Lakhia Physiatrist and Integrative Medicine physician

In this episode of ‘Interview the Expert’ Joel speaks with Dr Sanjiv Lakhia board-certified physiatrist and integrative medicine physician at Carolina NeuroSurgery & Spine Associates. Dr Lakhia specialises in nonsurgical approaches to spine and orthopaedic conditions and offers a diverse range of innovative treatments for back pain, including acupuncture, spinal injections and prescriptive exercise. Dr Lakhia favors a conservative holistic approach.

Chaptered topics include:

0:31 - An intro to Sanjiv Lakhia and what is a Physiatrist and what is the origin. Restoring function and reducing pain is the focus.

04:00 - Doctor of Osteopathic medicine and the interest in spinal care. Having a healthy spine is critical to having a healthy and functional life. The burden of spine pathologies and people are living longer.

07:35 - Modern lifestyles and possible trends since Covid. The influence of posture, function and overall physiology.

11:30 - Integrative Medicine combines the best modern medicine with Eastern and ancient medicine. Patients are moving away from medicines for every ailment.

14:40 - How the Physiatry method works with Neurosurgery colleagues. Good effective spine care options are really lacking. The holistic approach is perceived as the way forward.

18:10 - What is a typical patient journey? What is the patient’s why? It’s very important to get a sense of where the patient is?

21:50 - Carolina Neurosurgery and Spine based in Carolina US. The facility has a full spread of treatment options.

23:30 - Spinal injections are used to control the patient’s acute inflammatory reaction. The injections allow the patient to recover function. Needs to be part of a comprehensive program.

27:10 - Regenerative medicine, PRP and stem cell use in spines. This is a promising and evolving area. How could intra disc injections work with the one way street of disc injury? Melatonin, green tea and disc degeneration research. 

33:10 - Nutritional advice and guidelines. Nutrition must not be discarded. Systemic inflammation can be treated with nutritional interventions. The same blood goes everywhere why wouldn’t it help your back?

The healthier you can be the better. Smoking and its effect on the back.

37:30 - Intra disc PRP and the typically viable patient.  

39:20 - How do you determine the best course of treatment? What is the pain generator? It’s very much about listening to the patient. It’s a very customised process and templates don’t tend to work successfully.

45:20 - Pattern recognition. Spinal imaging is critically important but full of findings that do not correlate - e.g. some of the findings are simply the ageing process.

48:50 - What’s a case where you were genuinely struggling to help the patient. The use of peptides and anti-inflammatory pharmaceuticals and their role in repairing injury.

The focus on suffering rather than just pain.

Age related spine issues that are non-respondent to standard holistic methodologies.

58:00 - What am I supposed to gain from this situation and pain? Movement is key. Good therapists should be your co-pilot. Learn as much as you can about your back. Become your own advocate. For most it gets better but your back can still hurt!

Dr Sanjiv Lakhia can also be reached via his private practice at www.drlakhia.com