Greg S. Khounganian, MD

5525 Etiwanda Ave, #311, Tarzana  |  818-343-4430  |  GSKspine.com

Shared Tip

Weight loss can help tremendously with low back pain. Losing as little as 10 pounds can take a large amount of stress off the lower back. A fitness regimen to strengthen the core muscles, including the low back and abdominals, aids to maintain good stability for the lumbar spine. Great exercise regimens like yoga and Pilates focus a lot on core strengthening and stretching. Not only can this help alleviate back pain, but it can also prevent future injuries.

Practice Specialty

I utilize minimally invasive surgical techniques for patients often. This helps with a quicker recovery and return to work and life. By making smaller incisions, we can achieve the same result but provide a less painful and faster recovery. Often patients are able to go home the same day and have incisions small enough to be covered by a single Band-aid.

Before & After

Cervical disc replacement is an excellent technology available today for patients. It can treat disc herniations in the neck while still allowing mobility, without fusing the vertebrae together. This helps conserve motion and prevent the vertebral levels above and below the surgery from degenerating quickly, which could eventually lead to more surgery in the future. These images show a patient who had arm pain, weakness and numbness due to a large disc herniation in his neck. We removed the disc and replaced it with this mobile device. He had immediate pain relief in his arm, and his weakness continues to improve.

Q&A

How do you work with other health care professionals to care for your patients?  

“Treating patients with spine injuries and pain is a concerted effort among many health care professionals. I work closely with the patient’s primary physicians, pain management specialists, physical therapists, neurologists and chiropractors, among other medical professionals. Before a patient is told they need a surgical procedure for their problem, we work to help them improve. Our goal is to help patients gain as much benefit in relieving pain and increasing activity levels without surgery.”

What is your area of specialty?  

“I have focused my practice to treat patients with non-operative treatments until their condition’s improvement has been maximized. If surgery is needed, I do my best to apply the minimally invasive surgical approaches to produce the same result as conventional spine surgery. However, a less invasive approach translates to faster healing and faster return to work and life.”

What is unique about your style and technique? 

“I have been involved in CrossFit and personal fitness for many years. This has allowed me to have a closer understanding of the patient who is athletic or desires to become more active. Often I see patients who were injured during sporting activities. I try to help them return to those activities. I find it extremely gratifying to help a patient gradually return to those activities that are important to their physical and mental well-being. Just modifying their technique and being more cautious, they can better understand their injury, what caused it and how to prevent it from happening again.”