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About the Froedtert & Medical College of Wisconsin SpineCare Program

SpineCare is an outpatient clinic built around you. Our goal is to meet your needs with a transdisciplinary team of back and neck experts all working together to give you one-stop-shop convenience. This “team-of-specialists” approach allows us to rapidly see patients with spine problems from the common to the most complex.

We offer five locations – Greenfield, Menomonee Falls, Mequon, Oak Creek, and Wauwatosa – to make it easy to schedule appointments and get the care you need. And, because of our expertise and focus on proven and innovative treatments, we help you achieve your goals quickly and safely, making SpineCare one of the most cost-effective health care options available.

In addition to some of the area’s leading neurological and orthopaedic surgeons, our staff includes well-regarded physical medicine and rehabilitation specialists, neurologists, chiropractic physicians, pain psychologists, spine-trained nurse practitioners and physician assistants, as well as outstanding physical and occupational therapists.

We help manage your health care costs by getting you just what you need, when you need it, by those best able to help.

And, our emphasis on early intervention sets us apart from other programs. Our comprehensive, evidence-based approach can help you achieve an early, safe return to your routine activities and prevent long-term disability from back pain.

At SpineCare, you are an important part of the care team. We value your input in helping choose the right treatment approach to help you meet your goals. Back and neck pain can be a passing annoyance or it can become a chronic, debilitating problem.

As many as 90 percent of people report at least one episode of back pain during their working lives, and back pain is a major cause of disability. Whether the cause is related to sports, work, stress, weight, injury, aging or some other condition, the team at SpineCare wants to help you relieve your back and neck pain.

We Know What Works

One of the benefits of being part of the area’s only academic medical center is that we know what works based on clinical research. Your individualized treatment program is based on evidence.

For example, research proves that for many people, non-invasive approaches such as appropriate exercise, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medications (NSAIDs), ice, and avoiding bedrest can often relieve back and neck pain. We start with the most conservative approaches first. Surgery is an option for some patients, but it’s rarely the first treatment choice. In fact, most of our patients get better without surgery.

For employers, SpineCare can help keep health care costs down by reducing the risk of costly, productivity-reducing chronic spine problems.

The program also offers a competitive pricing model with defined treatment timelines. And, SpineCare’s quality is validated by the program’s outcomes.

The difference between SpineCare and other programs

SpineCare has always been ahead of the curve. Established in 1995, SpineCare was the first clinic of its type in the region, and we’re proud to be part of Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin, which is recognized for exceptional physicians, research leadership, specialty expertise and state-of-the-art treatments and technology. For fast, quality and personal spine care, the right choice is Academic.

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Virtually all needed professionals and services are in one place

Our team of specialists including physical medicine & rehabilitation, neurology, spine surgeons, chiropractors, physical & occupational therapists work together to determine what is the most appropriate comprehensive management for you.

Treatment will include working with both clinical and educational program team members

As soon as the appropriate determinations have been made, treatment will begin. Your progress will be monitored carefully and changes in your treatment plan made by the team working together, rather than communication by mail and occasional telephone calls.

This program contains a strong educational emphasis

We want to help you improve and stay that way. Thus, we emphasize long term exercises, teach you how to prevent injuries, and how to protect your neck and back while doing what you want and need to do. We will ask that you complete a series of Health Questionnaires so we can measure your progress and share the results with you.

Throughout the program, if applicable, we will work with your employer, insurance company, and case manager to minimize the insurance and communication difficulties people often have in working through treatment of a back problem.

Superior Outcomes

We want to help you return to your routine activities as soon and as safely as possible, all while promoting function and helping prevent long-term disability.

Getting help quickly for back and neck problems and learning proper self-help techniques are just two of the ways we work to prevent these problems from becoming chronic. Over the course of treatment, we continue to help our patients make the changes necessary to go about their daily lives safely and effectively.

The SpineCare program tracks and scores patients’ physical and emotional health conditions before and after their treatment. These scores reflect the outcome and quality of the care provided.

The bottom line is that our approach works. A majority of SpineCare patients continue in their daily activities to some extent during their treatment. And, the majority of patients entering the SpineCare program continue working throughout the program.