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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.

Known as ‘Coach’ to everyone in the Farmington, Missouri, community, Gary Koch, 79, has made a lasting impact both on and off the basketball court. A Missouri Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame inductee, he spent more than 40 years coaching college women’s and high school boys’ varsity basketball. Now retired, he is thankful for the wonderful care he received after a serious heart scare last summer.

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.

Sophia suffered from epilepsy that for years disrupted her life and put severe limitations on her future. But after receiving a groundbreaking procedure from the pediatric neurology team at St. Louis Children’s Hospital, Sophia, now 18, is seizure free.

Exercise is good for your heart and offers many benefits, but do you really know how much physical activity you are getting? If not, then try a fitness tracker.

Martha Williams checked off a goal on her bucket list in April 2019. She qualified for, and ran, in the Boston Marathon. Although it's an accomplishment only a small percentage of runners can claim, Williams' story might not sound particularly extraordinary -- that is, unless you begin the story in December 2010.