The Optimized Patient: How to Prepare for, Survive, and Recover from Spine Surgery

The Optimized Patient offers insights from a team of six spine patients, two physical therapists, a chiropractor and a nutritionist all dedicated to helping you prepare to be an Optimized Patient. In the time it takes to read this book, you will have gained the insights from all those patients, surgeons, and experts as if you were in a small group setting where you could ask all the questions you wanted. What you end up with is the ability to make a well-informed decision about whether or not spine surgery is right for you. And, should you make that decision, you will have the best information possible to achieve what every spine patient wants: to be you again. No matter how perfect the surgery, your surgeon needs your commitment and help to achieve your goal of a pain-free life.

I am sharing a brief excerpt from the book. It is the best summary of why any person considering spine surgery should buy this book, if your surgeon hasn't already given it to you. Imagine that you are at a dinner party and six people who have successfully recovered from major spine surgery are gathered at a large table. Then, three spine surgeons, two physical therapists, and a chiropractor sit down to join them in a discussion about how to optimize for spine surgery. To top it off, a PhD who is a Registered Dietician Nutritionist (RDN) shows up to share how food plays a major role in optimizing for and recovering from surgery. Now imagine that they are gathered at the table just to help you understand if surgery is right for you. Well, that's exactly where you're sitting and exactly what we hope to do. In the time it takes to read this book, those patients, surgeons, and experts are going to share their experiences and knowledge to give you the information you need to make a confident and well-informed decision about whether or not spine surgery is right for you. And should you make that decision, you will have the best information possible to achieve what every spine patient wants: to be you again.

Contributor Review

The opportunity to work with Harvey Warren on this project allowed me to turn the fear of spine surgery and the challenge of making a full recovery into my reality of being myself again. After fracturing my back I truly wondered if I would be able to fully recover. Now I know that I could. The storytelling format used in the Optimized Patient creates a level of understanding that all can benefit from. What helped me most in my recovery was having Nathan Quarry tell me "If I can do it, you can do it." It is what I would like to share with you - "You can recover and you can be yourself again."