This is Carly Beam with the Becker Spine
and Orthopedics podcast,
and I'm thrilled to be joined today by
doctor Bolan Akubadejo,
a spine surgeon
in New York City. Thank you so much
for being with us today. Thanks for having
me.
So before we dive into our questions, could
you introduce yourself and share a bit more
about your background?
Absolutely.
So my name is Bolanha Kupadejo.
I am a practicing orthopedic spine surgeon in
the New York Metro Area. I have offices
in both New York and New Jersey. I've
been in practice now about eighteen years.
My focus is primarily spine.
I do some orthopedics as well.
So I,
I went to undergrad at Brown University, med
school at Johns Hopkins, did did my residency
at WashU.
Wash WashU University of St. Louis is,
a very balanced program, but very strong on
spine, and that's where my interest in spine,
developed. And in spine, typically,
you can go one of two routes. Can
either go with deformity where you do a
lot of scoliosis work and a lot of,
realignment of the spine, or you do degenerative
work where you're doing, disc herniations,
focusing on cervical lumbar spine pathology,
and getting patients moving that way. So that's
where my focus is more on the cervical
lumbar spine. I do decompressions. I do dish
replacements.
I do procedures to to get patients,
back into their quality of life. So I
did my fellowship at University of Pittsburgh,
which is a great hands on fellowship,
and I've been in practice since 2008.
That's great to hear. And, you know, I'd
love to start what where do you see
the biggest gaps in how patients are experiencing
back pain versus
how it's treated?
The biggest gaps, I think, is where patients
initiate care. So I think a lot of
patients,
tend to
either stay home and and try to, you
know, get by on their own and deal
with pain without really seeing anyone professionally.
Some patients will start with the chiropractor,
maybe talk to their personal trainer in the
gym, before coming in for evaluation with the
doctor. So I think that's really where where
the gap
begins. So I think if they begin by
seeing a physician,
then we can do proper diagnostics
and give them a plan and get them
going a little more efficiently. So I think,
the more they see us, the professionals,
the doctors, either primary care doctor or spine
specialist, the quicker they can get to the
endpoint when it comes to to treatment of
their back pain.
Yeah. And can you talk a bit about
just kind of,
you know, the consequences for patients, but then
also you as,
physicians and physician practices,
when patients
are going to, the professionals
first or are putting off their care?
Absolutely. It's definitely debilitating.
Some people have a fear. Some people especially
when it comes to seeing a spine surgeon.
A lot of patients are fearful that coming
to see us means that the only solution
that we'll offer is something surgical,
And, it's actually quite the contrary.
I think no one understands the spine better
than the spine surgeon because we know how
it looks from the very inception
to something surgical. So we kinda have,
that the bigger picture
world view where we can get patients into
the category of treatment that will get them
better,
most efficiently.
So my preference is,
for people to see me once they have
pain, and then I can get the diagnostics
and, give them an idea of what's going
on and what to expect.
And patients who put their trust
in me tend to have very good outcomes.
So I think that's really,
the best way to go.
Absolutely. And, you know, I'm wondering, you know,
with the the advent of,
you know, Internet, Google, we have social media,
chiachi b t now.
Are you seeing patients coming in and
they have kind of their own preconceived
ideas or misconceptions
perhaps about their conditions?
Absolutely.
Actually, it gets
it gets more challenging when patients have
very specific ideas as to what treatment that
they they need. So some patients, regardless of
their symptoms,
if the pain's been going on for a
while, let's say they've had some treatment, physical
therapy, maybe injections,
they'll research a very specific procedure,
and and they come in looking for that.
But,
without an understanding
of how your pathology,
is what really determines the treatment,
there's no way they know what what they
need. You know? And that's why we're experts
because, you know, a good expert, a good
spine surgeon is trained in all the techniques,
and then we match the patient's pathology
to the surgical technique,
that will best suit them.
So some patients are great candidates for minimally
invasive procedures.
Some patients have pathology where minimally invasive is
not appropriate for them, and they they need
something more traditional.
So I think that that's really the disconnect
where there's so much information
that people educate themselves, but they don't really
have the experience or know how to allocate
pathology to treatment plan.
Are there are there any,
common myths or misconceptions
that you're hearing from patients?
Yeah. The the the two major ones. So
the first one is no one gets better
from spine surgery.
A lot of people feel,
that if they get surgery, that means it's
almost like a not a death sentence, but,
you know, they're doomed to be, limited indefinitely.
And that's definitely false. That's false because,
the technology has evolved to a point where
we're more efficient with our techniques,
our diagnostics, so actually get patients
much better, much quicker, and the outcomes in
spine surgery have never been better. So that's
definitely a myth that, we're we're trying to
to to to, to LA as strongly as
possible.
The other thought, that's a major misconception is
that spine surgery is is very dangerous,
and, actually, it's less dangerous now than it's
ever been. And once again, that comes back
to to,
technology. Our understanding of the anatomy is better.
The options we have when it comes to
treatment are are more precise.
So surgery has never been safer,
and, the outcomes have never been better. So
this is a great time to be a
spine surgeon, and it's a great time if
you're having back pain and if you're in
the hands of the right person to have
your issues resolved.
Yeah. You bring up a great point about,
the technologies that we have now in spine
surgery, definitely,
in minimally invasive techniques as well. I'm wondering
what innovations in spine have been the most
exciting to you recently.
So things that are minimally invasive and things
that are robotic. So,
so what I've enjoyed the most,
most recently are are new endoscopic techniques.
So when endoscopic techniques were first introduced,
we were limited in terms of the approach
to the spine, in terms of how we
could get to the pathology.
But that technology has evolved to a point
where,
we can use a more traditional approach to
get into the spine while still using,
endoscopic techniques to get to the pathology,
to have excellent,
visualization of pathology,
and to resolve symptoms very quickly. And the
less damage you do anatomically,
to solve pathology, the quicker the recovery is.
So that's one arm, the endoscopic arm. The
other arm is the robotics. So with robotics,
we can plan our procedures better,
use advanced imaging
prior to surgery,
marry that to, intraoperative imaging,
and our placement of implants has never been
better. So we're able to get our screws
in better when it comes to fusion cases.
Our cages, we can see the antibody spaces.
Also, with robotics,
AI is also playing a role,
when it comes to spine surgery. So it's
it's a great time. It's a great time
to be in the field.
And how much are you using AI in,
your clinical, but then also just kind of
your, administrative or day to day work?
AI is critical. AI is critical. AI makes
us a lot more efficient.
We're able to to use less manpower,
in the office because we have AI agents
that are helping us depending on which
EMR system you're using or how you you
incorporate it into your flow.
We're definitely much more efficient in the office.
Our billing is more efficient because a lot
of things are automated. So anything that,
you can use in an algorithm,
to match up, to get production,
is is what fits into the the role
of AI.
So,
AI is is less fallible than humans,
with with certain things. So, certainly, efficiency has
improved tremendously.
Yeah. And then, Bolan, I'd love to hear
is, what are, you know, two or three
more health care trends that you've been following
lately?
So the biggest trend in health care currently
is the trend of
prioritizing
prevention
as opposed to waiting until you have pathology
and being in pain, and then we come
up with solutions, prevention. So prevention
looks
the form of wellness. So wellness is is
a huge thing now in in medicine,
huge thing in orthopedics.
So we're studying, the way,
to use IV vitamins, you know, to make
our bodies as healthy as possible.
Newly emerging
fields when it comes to longevity
There's the use of peptides in medicine that's
becoming bigger and bigger.
So that's that's really the most exciting thing
is, the wellness realm. And,
we're we're diving deeper into that and trying
to develop
our own protocols and and and and and
bring more of these treatments, to to our
patients. So I think that's really the biggest
thing. And as I mentioned, the the minimally
invasive techniques when it comes to,
the tech aspect surgically.
So those two things, I I would say,
are are the biggest trends in our field
right now. And in terms of these wellness
protocols you're talking about,
what has been working at your practice, and
what are you hoping to grow?
So I promote wellness. I I have a
vested interest in prevention.
I personally
have been on on this path for some
time. I I, invented a a core fitness
product called three sixty core board It's been
on the market now for about half half
a decade or so.
So I've been invested in optimizing
body's performance, to minimize the the risk of
injury or or just to be able to
cope with pathology and and avoid having surgery.
And then then when it comes to wellness
itself,
you have to pursue that education independently,
because it's an emerging field. So this this
is not information we learned during our training.
So I've I've made the effort to attend
seminars,
I've made trips to try to understand as
much as I can within this realm. And
the mostly the most exciting,
aspect of wellness is really,
the use of peptides. Peptides are precursors to
hormones,
and that's very big when it comes to
longevity and,
having the body work more efficiently,
as we age because the body tends to
become less efficient with senescence,
and the peptides are finding ways,
to minimize the role of senescence
and having our cells,
be more efficient for longer.
So it's it's making antiaging
and, performance
better for longer in life. So that that's
really a a very exciting area that we're
we're we're diving deeper into.
That's very well said, and I love how
you've worded that too, you know,
prioritizing
prevention.
And, last question I have for you is
just, you know, what does how else does
growth look like in your work for the
next twelve to twenty four months? What are
your biggest goals for 2026?
So my goals are are very personal, when
it comes to the structure of my practice.
So, you know, I'm a spine surgeon,
because I'm looking at,
kind of a
a more a a wider view
of orthopedics and, trying to be more multidimensional.
I'm personally looking to grow my practice, to
have
other dimensions incorporated into my practice beyond spine
surgery.
So having more more pain managements, having,
more,
sports when it comes to arthroscopy and having
other practitioners,
join my practice so I can deliver more
more of these,
cares to to my patients.
And also within wellness, I have nurse practitioners
who are,
improving their skills when it comes to delivering
a lot of, these treatments directly to patients
when it comes to peptides, when it comes
to PRP.
So these are all emerging exciting,
aspects of of medicine, orthopedics specifically, and I'm
planning to incorporate more and more of these
into my practice.
Well, well, and thank you again for joining
us on today's podcast.
It's great to connect, and I hope to
stay in touch in the future.
Absolutely. Thanks for having me.