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When Kumar Vasudevan, MD, a WashU Medicine neurosurgeon at Christian Hospital, meets with patients to discuss if spine surgery is right for them, he shares that their path to pain relief starts before he puts on his surgical scrubs and extends after the operation is complete.

But the minor twinge that started after one of her regular weight-lifting sessions soon grew into intense shoulder pain with accompanying arm and wrist weakness that threatened to sidetrack her busy life. She had a ruptured disc in her cervical (neck) spine.

Imagine waking up one day with a strange sensation in your legs. It’s not pain exactly, but it’s not normal — you don’t quite feel like your brain is coordinating with your limbs.

Bill Bunch’s favorite activities include golfing, tending to his yard, and playing catch with his grandson. Each one became more difficult and less enjoyable for the retiree during a six-year span in which a worsening back condition affected his hips, legs, and feet.

Two wheels sped down a rural Missouri highway, and a 14-year-old fell in love. “It was a freedom feeling,” Tom Waller says, more than six decades after his first motorcycle ride. “And I’ve never lost it.

When Paige’s water broke at 37 weeks pregnant, she was ready to meet her baby. It was a markedly different feeling from earlier in her pregnancy, when, at 25 weeks gestation, Paige underwent a surgery at Barnes-Jewish Hospital to repair a defect in her baby’s spine.

An all-inclusive approach across health providers and communities can help address the disparity in Black maternal mortality rates.

Injuries or illnesses can happen quickly, and knowing where to get medical care is important. Waking up with a sore throat, tripping when walking the dog, or having trouble breathing are different situations, and understanding the differences is essential to receiving appropriate care. It’s always stressful to figure out where to go for your care, especially if the injury is too severe for your regular primary care physician, or your illness happens during the weekend or evening.

If you have a visitor from out of town who gets sick or hurt, you might wonder how to get them medical care away from home. For guests of Missouri and Illinois residents, BJC has several health care options.