Nerve Root Newsletter best of 2023!

An efficient review of the year

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It was a quieter year than usual, but a good one.

Some very popular substack posts:

• What do we actually know about disc hernations and radicular pain?

• Four-to-six schmeeks: How long does sciatica last?

• What can we learn from three new papers about CES?

• CES infographics for new grads

• 10 papers to get started with CES

Other writing:

• A back to basics sciatica terminology post

• What causes disc herniations?, for MSK mag

• Co-authored a chapter in Pain: A Textbook

• Not writing, but a good intro video on youtube

• >1k like twitter threads on differential diagnosis, bladder dysfunction and loss of saddle sensation in CES, dermatomes, piriformis syndrome, and a gruesome medical study

Not writing, but I also ran two mini-course on CES (recordings available) and gave quite a few webinars on the subject.

And of course, Annina and I completed a full re-write, re-illustration and re-publication of Understanding Sciatica.

Looking back at this year, I’m surprised at how much good work I’ve done. I’ve been so busy with other commitments that I had the impression I was producing very little on the sciatica front. But clearly I’ve done okay. And I’m not shy to say that much of what I have done is simply the very best stuff out there on this topic. My main regret is the same as it was last year: I’ve yet to make a start on writing about treatment and management. Let’s see what 2024 brings.

Happy new year!

Tom