News

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.

When John’s left arm slid across his desk, he knew something was wrong, but he didn’t move it. His arm moving on its own concerned him and alerted him to tell his wife, Laura.

Richard Hood’s workouts at his St. Peters gym were rigorous and routine. The 78-year-old would split his hour and a half evenly between running on a treadmill and lifting weights. So when he began feeling dizzy during a January gym visit, Richard knew he wasn’t just tired.

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.

Food insecurity, or a lack of consistent access to nutritious and affordable food, is a pervasive issue that affects communities across the country. In St. Louis, this problem is prevalent, with a significant portion of the population facing challenges in getting the right kinds of food. Often, this is because grocery stores or other fresh food options are limited or simply because many can’t afford to buy nutritious food.

Of the many worries parents have for their kids, suffering a stroke is rarely at the top of the list.