Specialised Care
Careful Assessment & Personalised Care
Not every patient with back or neck pain needs surgery. Many spinal conditions improve with time, rehabilitation, physiotherapy, activity modification, or targeted injections.
The focus is careful assessment: symptoms, examination findings, neurological status, imaging, previous treatment, and patient goals all need to fit together before deciding on surgery.
MRI is highly sensitive, but imaging changes do not always explain pain.
Surgical Procedures
Orthopaedic Services in Whangārei
Spinal Surgery
A disc herniation can irritate or compress a nerve, causing leg pain, numbness, pins and needles, or weakness.
Hand & Wrist Surgery
A disc herniation can irritate or compress a nerve, causing leg pain, numbness, pins and needles, or weakness.
Hip Surgery
Neck degeneration may compress nerves or the spinal cord, causing arm pain, weakness, hand clumsiness, or imbalance.
Technique
Endoscopic Spine Surgery
Endoscopic spine surgery uses high-definition cameras and specialised instruments through a small cannula, often through an incision around 10 mm long.
For selected patients, this may reduce tissue disruption, post-operative discomfort, and recovery time compared with more open approaches.
Not every spinal condition is suitable for endoscopy.
Meet Your Surgeon
Dr James Watt
Orthopaedic Surgeon in Whangārei
Not every patient with back or neck pain needs surgery. Many spinal conditions improve with time, rehabilitation, physiotherapy, activity modification, or targeted injections.
The focus is careful assessment: symptoms, examination findings, neurological status, imaging, previous treatment, and patient goals all need to fit together before deciding on surgery.
MRI is highly sensitive, but imaging changes do not always explain pain.
