David Rothbart,
co-founder and medical director of Spine Team Texas

Chronic back pain and surgery to treat it used to mean invasive surgery and long scars. Spine Team Texas, however, focuses on alleviating back problems without surgery whenever possible and using minimally invasive surgery when needed. Dr. David Rothbart founded Spine Team Texas in Southlake in 1994 with colleague Dr. Juan Bartolomei. While thereÂ’s a stereotype of middle-aged people bending the wrong way and throwing out their backs, Rothbart said that back issues affect all sorts of people and that cohesive treatment is the most effective way to relieve pain.

How did you get into neurosurgery?

I always had the mindset of becoming a surgeon. Being a doctor has been a dream of mine since I was a small child. Neuroscience, neurosurgery, the brain, the spine and the nervous system all seemed like the last frontier in medicine.

How does Spine Team Texas approach back care?

The whole area of minimally invasive spine surgery has completely revolutionized the field of spine surgery. WeÂ’re now able to utilize more of the delicate techniques we learn as brain surgeons and use them for spine surgery. . . . The field of spine care is often a frustrating experience to patients. . . . ItÂ’s often a fragmented kind of care and what we found was having all those different aspects of care in one location gives patients a level of comfort. Their outcome benefits by having the communication of the team on-site.

Are some people still demanding surgery?

I think a big job of what we do is to educate patients. Patients want an efficient solution to their problem, and oftentimes surgery is viewed as a very definitive endpoint. What we need to do is educate a patient that even if maybe thereÂ’s a herniated disc thatÂ’s pushing out, we need to educate them that surgery may not fix the problem. WeÂ’re educating patients about their options.

What kinds of patients do you treat?

We see patients from 20-year-old athletes up to 80-year-old patients who have arthritic conditions in their back. But clearly, the most common sort of patients are those between their 40s and their 60s who either through weekend-warrior activities or normal wear-and-tear activities have done something to their back.

Are centers like yours becoming more popular?

I think that the concept of multidisciplinary spine centers is a relatively new one and I think with the evolution of that and the model of care delivery, youÂ’re not just seeking a surgical opinion but youÂ’re searching for an opinion to treat back pain.

–Elizabeth Bassett