Having a quick scan of the About section on this website will tell you a lot of what you need to know about Dr Spinner – from his background to his favorite beer – but when it comes to your doctor, the more you know, the better, so this month’s blog brings you a more in-depth look at the man behind the medicine.
A sports fan from an early age, Dr Spinner’s particular favorite has always been baseball (as you might be able to tell) but he is also a big supporter of winter Olympic sports and college basketball, and while he may dabble in other states’ teams for basketball (Warriors and Spurs for the NBA and Duke at college level) when it comes to football and baseball he is strictly a New York man.
So is it just the fact that the Giants, Jets, Mets, and Yankees spring from his home soil, or is there something special about NYC teams? “The best part about New York teams is the expectation to win. Having a good season and making the playoffs then not winning the championship is not good enough. New York mentality is go for broke”.
A mentality he well understands after years of playing sports himself – from volleyball, tennis and skiing to his long-term preference, baseball, which he was lucky enough to play all the way through his medical training. He himself managed to escape with nothing more than a broken finger or two and a spate of pulled hamstrings – the same cannot be said for most of his sport-loving patients! So what is it about sports injuries that he finds so interesting? “Sports injuries are particularly interesting to me because of the underlying biomechanics and pathophysiology. The way in which injuries occur, can be prevented, and are treated makes sense”.
This interest – which links up so well with his personal interests – also fits into the field of medicine he practices. “I always had an interest in musculoskeletal medicine, intertwining physics, motion, function, science, and medicine” but, he says, there are only a few specialties in medicine which allow physicians to delve into the musculoskeletal spectrum. Rehabilitation Medicine is one of these. Doctors who work in this field focus on treating conditions which affect the muscles, bones, joints, ligaments, nerves, brain, and spinal cord and they are trained to use the most cutting edge technology to treat them. (More information on these technologies can be found under Interventions above.)
A fellowship in pain management was the next natural step, allowing Dr Spinner to enhance the scope of conditions he treats. And an interest in pain management extends far beyond his practice into his charitable activities. For some time, Dr Spinner has been an avid supporter of the Facial Pain Association, after experiencing family members’ struggle with truly disabling facial pain. “This is the type of pain that changes one’s life. I hope that in supporting this research (and doing some of my own) we can find cures.”
The second charity which he supports also has links to his everyday life. “Physiatry training aligns really well with treating the normal Musculoskeletal injuries from being active.” The injuries suffered by those helped through the Wounded Warriors Project include brain and spinal cord injuries, amputee care, chronic pain, and disability. And, more importantly, as Dr Spinner points out, “I can’t think of a group of people that are more deserving of our very best efforts to help.”
To learn more about Dr Spinner’s practice, please explore the website, and for all questions and enquiries, please get in touch via the contact page.