Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Dr. Gbolahan Okubadejo, Board Certified Spinal and Orthopedic Surgeon

Transcript

Dr. Gbolahan Okubadejo, Board Certified Spinal and Orthopedic Surgeon · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

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  This is Carly Beam with the Becker Spine
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  and Orthopedics podcast,
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  and I'm thrilled to be joined today by
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  doctor Bolan Akubadejo,
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  a spine surgeon
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  in New York City. Thank you so much
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  for being with us today. Thanks for having
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  me.
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  So before we dive into our questions, could
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  you introduce yourself and share a bit more
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  about your background?
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  Absolutely.
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  So my name is Bolanha Kupadejo.
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  I am a practicing orthopedic spine surgeon in
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  the New York Metro Area. I have offices
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  in both New York and New Jersey. I've
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  been in practice now about eighteen years.
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  My focus is primarily spine.
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  I do some orthopedics as well.
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  So I,
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  I went to undergrad at Brown University, med
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  school at Johns Hopkins, did did my residency
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  at WashU.
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  Wash WashU University of St. Louis is,
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  a very balanced program, but very strong on
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  spine, and that's where my interest in spine,
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  developed. And in spine, typically,
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  you can go one of two routes. Can
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  either go with deformity where you do a
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  lot of scoliosis work and a lot of,
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  realignment of the spine, or you do degenerative
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  work where you're doing, disc herniations,
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  focusing on cervical lumbar spine pathology,
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  and getting patients moving that way. So that's
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  where my focus is more on the cervical
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  lumbar spine. I do decompressions. I do dish
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  replacements.
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  I do procedures to to get patients,
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  back into their quality of life. So I
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  did my fellowship at University of Pittsburgh,
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  which is a great hands on fellowship,
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  and I've been in practice since 2008.
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  That's great to hear. And, you know, I'd
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  love to start what where do you see
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  the biggest gaps in how patients are experiencing
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  back pain versus
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  how it's treated?
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  The biggest gaps, I think, is where patients
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  initiate care. So I think a lot of
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  patients,
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  tend to
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  either stay home and and try to, you
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  know, get by on their own and deal
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  with pain without really seeing anyone professionally.
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  Some patients will start with the chiropractor,
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  maybe talk to their personal trainer in the
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  gym, before coming in for evaluation with the
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  doctor. So I think that's really where where
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  the gap
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  begins. So I think if they begin by
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  seeing a physician,
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  then we can do proper diagnostics
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  and give them a plan and get them
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  going a little more efficiently. So I think,
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  the more they see us, the professionals,
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  the doctors, either primary care doctor or spine
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  specialist, the quicker they can get to the
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  endpoint when it comes to to treatment of
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  their back pain.
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  Yeah. And can you talk a bit about
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  just kind of,
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  you know, the consequences for patients, but then
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  also you as,
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  physicians and physician practices,
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  when patients
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  are going to, the professionals
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  first or are putting off their care?
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  Absolutely. It's definitely debilitating.
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  Some people have a fear. Some people especially
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  when it comes to seeing a spine surgeon.
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  A lot of patients are fearful that coming
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  to see us means that the only solution
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  that we'll offer is something surgical,
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  And, it's actually quite the contrary.
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  I think no one understands the spine better
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  than the spine surgeon because we know how
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  it looks from the very inception
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  to something surgical. So we kinda have,
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  that the bigger picture
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  world view where we can get patients into
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  the category of treatment that will get them
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  better,
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  most efficiently.
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  So my preference is,
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  for people to see me once they have
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  pain, and then I can get the diagnostics
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  and, give them an idea of what's going
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  on and what to expect.
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  And patients who put their trust
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  in me tend to have very good outcomes.
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  So I think that's really,
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  the best way to go.
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  Absolutely. And, you know, I'm wondering, you know,
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  with the the advent of,
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  you know, Internet, Google, we have social media,
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  chiachi b t now.
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  Are you seeing patients coming in and
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  they have kind of their own preconceived
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  ideas or misconceptions
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  perhaps about their conditions?
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  Absolutely.
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  Actually, it gets
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  it gets more challenging when patients have
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  very specific ideas as to what treatment that
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  they they need. So some patients, regardless of
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  their symptoms,
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  if the pain's been going on for a
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  while, let's say they've had some treatment, physical
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  therapy, maybe injections,
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  they'll research a very specific procedure,
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  and and they come in looking for that.
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  But,
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  without an understanding
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  of how your pathology,
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  is what really determines the treatment,
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  there's no way they know what what they
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  need. You know? And that's why we're experts
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  because, you know, a good expert, a good
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  spine surgeon is trained in all the techniques,
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  and then we match the patient's pathology
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  to the surgical technique,
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  that will best suit them.
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  So some patients are great candidates for minimally
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  invasive procedures.
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  Some patients have pathology where minimally invasive is
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  not appropriate for them, and they they need
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  something more traditional.
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  So I think that that's really the disconnect
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  where there's so much information
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  that people educate themselves, but they don't really
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  have the experience or know how to allocate
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  pathology to treatment plan.
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  Are there are there any,
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  common myths or misconceptions
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  that you're hearing from patients?
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  Yeah. The the the two major ones. So
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  the first one is no one gets better
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  from spine surgery.
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  A lot of people feel,
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  that if they get surgery, that means it's
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  almost like a not a death sentence, but,
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  you know, they're doomed to be, limited indefinitely.
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  And that's definitely false. That's false because,
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  the technology has evolved to a point where
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  we're more efficient with our techniques,
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  our diagnostics, so actually get patients
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  much better, much quicker, and the outcomes in
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  spine surgery have never been better. So that's
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  definitely a myth that, we're we're trying to
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  to to to, to LA as strongly as
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  possible.
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  The other thought, that's a major misconception is
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  that spine surgery is is very dangerous,
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  and, actually, it's less dangerous now than it's
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  ever been. And once again, that comes back
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  to to,
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  technology. Our understanding of the anatomy is better.
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  The options we have when it comes to
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  treatment are are more precise.
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  So surgery has never been safer,
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  and, the outcomes have never been better. So
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  this is a great time to be a
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  spine surgeon, and it's a great time if
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  you're having back pain and if you're in
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  the hands of the right person to have
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  your issues resolved.
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  Yeah. You bring up a great point about,
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  the technologies that we have now in spine
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  surgery, definitely,
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  in minimally invasive techniques as well. I'm wondering
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  what innovations in spine have been the most
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  exciting to you recently.
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  So things that are minimally invasive and things
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  that are robotic. So,
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  so what I've enjoyed the most,
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  most recently are are new endoscopic techniques.
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  So when endoscopic techniques were first introduced,
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  we were limited in terms of the approach
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  to the spine, in terms of how we
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  could get to the pathology.
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  But that technology has evolved to a point
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  where,
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  we can use a more traditional approach to
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  get into the spine while still using,
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  endoscopic techniques to get to the pathology,
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  to have excellent,
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  visualization of pathology,
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  and to resolve symptoms very quickly. And the
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  less damage you do anatomically,
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  to solve pathology, the quicker the recovery is.
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  So that's one arm, the endoscopic arm. The
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  other arm is the robotics. So with robotics,
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  we can plan our procedures better,
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  use advanced imaging
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  prior to surgery,
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  marry that to, intraoperative imaging,
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  and our placement of implants has never been
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  better. So we're able to get our screws
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  in better when it comes to fusion cases.
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  Our cages, we can see the antibody spaces.
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  Also, with robotics,
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  AI is also playing a role,
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  when it comes to spine surgery. So it's
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  it's a great time. It's a great time
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  to be in the field.
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  And how much are you using AI in,
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  your clinical, but then also just kind of
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  your, administrative or day to day work?
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  AI is critical. AI is critical. AI makes
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  us a lot more efficient.
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  We're able to to use less manpower,
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  in the office because we have AI agents
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  that are helping us depending on which
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  EMR system you're using or how you you
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  incorporate it into your flow.
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  We're definitely much more efficient in the office.
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  Our billing is more efficient because a lot
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  of things are automated. So anything that,
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  you can use in an algorithm,
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  to match up, to get production,
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  is is what fits into the the role
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  of AI.
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  So,
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  AI is is less fallible than humans,
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  with with certain things. So, certainly, efficiency has
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  improved tremendously.
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  Yeah. And then, Bolan, I'd love to hear
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  is, what are, you know, two or three
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  more health care trends that you've been following
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  lately?
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  So the biggest trend in health care currently
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  is the trend of
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  prioritizing
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  prevention
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  as opposed to waiting until you have pathology
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  and being in pain, and then we come
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  up with solutions, prevention. So prevention
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  looks
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  the form of wellness. So wellness is is
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  a huge thing now in in medicine,
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  huge thing in orthopedics.
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  So we're studying, the way,
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  to use IV vitamins, you know, to make
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  our bodies as healthy as possible.
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  Newly emerging
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  fields when it comes to longevity
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  There's the use of peptides in medicine that's
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  becoming bigger and bigger.
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  So that's that's really the most exciting thing
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  is, the wellness realm. And,
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  we're we're diving deeper into that and trying
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  to develop
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  our own protocols and and and and and
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  bring more of these treatments, to to our
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  patients. So I think that's really the biggest
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  thing. And as I mentioned, the the minimally
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  invasive techniques when it comes to,
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  the tech aspect surgically.
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  So those two things, I I would say,
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  are are the biggest trends in our field
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  right now. And in terms of these wellness
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  protocols you're talking about,
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  what has been working at your practice, and
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  what are you hoping to grow?
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  So I promote wellness. I I have a
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  vested interest in prevention.
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  I personally
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  have been on on this path for some
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  time. I I, invented a a core fitness
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  product called three sixty core board It's been
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  on the market now for about half half
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  a decade or so.
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  So I've been invested in optimizing
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  body's performance, to minimize the the risk of
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  injury or or just to be able to
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  cope with pathology and and avoid having surgery.
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  And then then when it comes to wellness
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  itself,
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  you have to pursue that education independently,
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  because it's an emerging field. So this this
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  is not information we learned during our training.
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  So I've I've made the effort to attend
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  seminars,
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  I've made trips to try to understand as
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  much as I can within this realm. And
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  the mostly the most exciting,
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  aspect of wellness is really,
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  the use of peptides. Peptides are precursors to
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  hormones,
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  and that's very big when it comes to
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  longevity and,
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  having the body work more efficiently,
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  as we age because the body tends to
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  become less efficient with senescence,
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  and the peptides are finding ways,
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  to minimize the role of senescence
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  and having our cells,
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  be more efficient for longer.
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  So it's it's making antiaging
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  and, performance
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  better for longer in life. So that that's
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  really a a very exciting area that we're
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  we're we're diving deeper into.
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  That's very well said, and I love how
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  you've worded that too, you know,
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  prioritizing
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  prevention.
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  And, last question I have for you is
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  just, you know, what does how else does
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  growth look like in your work for the
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  next twelve to twenty four months? What are
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  your biggest goals for 2026?
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  So my goals are are very personal, when
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  it comes to the structure of my practice.
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  So, you know, I'm a spine surgeon,
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  because I'm looking at,
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  kind of a
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  a more a a wider view
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  of orthopedics and, trying to be more multidimensional.
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  I'm personally looking to grow my practice, to
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  have
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  other dimensions incorporated into my practice beyond spine
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  surgery.
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  So having more more pain managements, having,
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  more,
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  sports when it comes to arthroscopy and having
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  other practitioners,
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  join my practice so I can deliver more
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  more of these,
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  cares to to my patients.
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  And also within wellness, I have nurse practitioners
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  who are,
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  improving their skills when it comes to delivering
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  a lot of, these treatments directly to patients
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  when it comes to peptides, when it comes
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  to PRP.
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  So these are all emerging exciting,
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  aspects of of medicine, orthopedics specifically, and I'm
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  planning to incorporate more and more of these
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  into my practice.
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  Well, well, and thank you again for joining
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  us on today's podcast.
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  It's great to connect, and I hope to
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  stay in touch in the future.
• 13:12
  Absolutely. Thanks for having me.