Why did you decide to become a Consultant Orthopaedic and Spinal Surgeon ?

At the age of eight, I either wanted to be a lawyer, an aircraft pilot, or a surgeon. Lawyer was ruled out because my writing was appalling and my spelling was terrible. Pilot was out because I wore glasses. So that only left surgery.

When you start as a medical student, you go through every branch of surgery. You do general surgery, where you operate on bowels and abdominal organs. Then I did some spinal surgery, and it just struck me that, as a spine surgeon, you work through every part of the body. You go through the neck from the front and from the back. You go through the thoracic spine through the chest and from the back. You go through the lumbar spine through the abdomen and from the back. It is challenging, varied, and high-stakes, and that combination is what drew me in.

There is also a Winston Churchill quote: there are two types of people in this world, those who have back pain and those who are going to have back pain. As most people have spines, it seemed to me that everyone is going to have a bad back or a bad neck at some point, so it was an ideal field to commit to. What I aim to do differently is to guide patients through the journey from the onset of their pain right through to recovery, whether or not surgery is needed. There are very few things people should stop doing because of back pain. The goal is to get patients back to their sport, their work, and their life. Most people get better. The mindset I want patients to leave with is that this is a success story, not a failure story.

What are the common symptoms that your patients tend to present with?

The patients I see fall into five clear groups:

1. Neck pain alone

2. Neck pain with arm pain (typically from a prolapsed disc in the neck)

3. Thoracic spinal pain (a prolapse here is rare, but the pain itself is common)

4. Low back pain alone

5. Low back pain with sciatica

Most presentations sort cleanly into one of these.

What are the treatments that you're able to offer your patients?

In the NHS, you wait a long time to be seen, a long time for diagnostics, and a long time for treatment. The faster a patient gets to a diagnosis and a treatment plan, the better the outcome. In private practice, that delay disappears.

Almost every patient who sees me will have an MRI scan. Once we know precisely what we are dealing with, we put together a clear treatment plan. As the saying goes: if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Spinal surgery has no reverse gear, so we rush slowly. Each step is taken thoughtfully, based on information rather than fear.

Patients are encouraged to email questions when they have them. There is nothing worse than sitting at home with a question going round and round in your mind; that is when worry takes over. I have set times in the day to respond, so questions get answered. I work closely with physiotherapists, osteopaths, and chiropractors, and the wider team supports patients through every stage. The whole system is designed to be the kind of care you would want to receive yourself.

What are your areas of sub-specialist interest?

What I love is operating, but you should remember that you are seeing a surgeon who is, in effect, a "choice architect". A useful analogy: if you walk into a Rolls Royce showroom, the salesperson is unlikely to suggest you buy a Mini.

The reality is that there are five treatment options for spinal problems:

1. Do nothing

2. Painkillers

3. Physical therapy

4. Injections

5. Surgery

Around 90% of patients get better with the first three. Once they understand what is wrong with them, and the physiotherapists understand what is wrong with them, they recover. Of the remaining 10%, injections help around two-thirds. The aim throughout is to get patients back to playing sport, walking, running, working, and living their life with as few restrictions as possible.