MEET DR. LARRY TODD: ORTHONEURO SPINE SURGEON

Transcript:

Hello, I’m Dr. Larry Todd. I originally had a chance to get into the medical field when I was in high school, and I had a chance to proctor with an orthopedic surgeon back in the Kansas City, Missouri area. 

I liked the complexity. I liked the fact that I was working with injured people, not sick people. And so, I quickly gravitated more toward working also with my hands. 

My dad always said he wanted an engineer as a son. I failed him. I went into spine surgery instead. But that’s basically what got me into medicine – working with my hands and working in the orthopedic field. 

So I was born and raised in the Kansas City, Missouri area. I went to undergraduate at Missouri University. I went on to medical school in Iowa. I then came to the central area for my orthopedic residency through Ohio University. 

After going through my residency, I gravitated to the field of spine surgery. I went to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota for my orthopedic spine fellowship. 

What took me to spine? Originally, I wanted to go into orthopedics. But, once I got into orthopedics, I had a chance to rotate in spine surgery, and I realized that it was a very complex part of the body to work with, and I enjoyed that. 

Another reason is that when I started this more than a decade ago, the spine field was in its infancy. We have really gravitated more toward doing surgery in a minimally-invasive manner.

At that point, ten years ago, spine surgery was just in its infancy of the medical field. So that’s one of the reasons why I went into spine surgery. 

I treat everything – from adult to pediatric spinal deformities to degenerative discs to herniated discs in the cervical, thoracic or lumbar spine. So I really take care of all conditions of the cervical, thoracic and lumbar spine. 

Being in the spine field, what inspires me most is that with back pain being second only to the common cold, there are so many patients I see on any given day. And obviously, more than 90% of them do not require surgery.

And I see all those patients. But, for the patients who do require surgery, it’s so gratifying to see them get great results from spine surgery.

And as we’re moving more toward more than half of our patients being done on an outpatient, minimally-invasive basis, these patients are getting back to their lives quicker than they ever have. 

What gets me out of bed every day is the fact that I enjoy seeing people getting over their bad back pain and neck pain. I love the hugs from patients who say, “Doctor, you’ve given me back my life!” That’s what gets me out of bed every day.

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