Malcolm Gladwell, famed author of the Tipping Point and Blink discusses the link between practice and success. In a recent article in Fortune 500 Magazine, the 10,000 hour rule, which Malcolm mentioned in his recent book, Outliers, was cited.  With regard to this rule, Malcolm stated, "If you look at any kind of cognitive complex field, from playing chess to being a neurosurgeon, we see this incredibly consistent pattern that you cannot become an expert  at performing complex tasks  unless you practice for 10,000 hours.

I am happy and proud to announce that LSI surgeons completed 10,000 spine surgeries on March 17th. At the current rate of performance, we should complete our 20,000th surgery in 2010. While the typical orthopedic surgeon may average 100 to 150 spine surgeries per year, LSI currently performs about 400 per month. Why is that so important?  As Malcolm says, you cannot become an expert until you have reached the 10,000th marker. Even by Malcolm's stringent standards, the surgical team at LSI has now attained the advantage of expertise in their field.
 
I will be completely honest and acknowledge a crucial contributing factor to the volume of surgeries that our team performs - a single focus.  Unlike other orthopedic doctors, who generally operate on bones, joints, ligaments, tendons and muscles,  LSI surgeons are completely focused  on the spine and practice only minimally invasive endoscopic spine surgeries. This specialized concentration helps to account for their high level of expertise. So there, now you know!

The idea that the more you do something, the better you become has been reinforced time and time again. I believe it is a lot like placing confidence in Tiger Woods or Vijay Singh, who hit 400 to 500 golf balls daily, versus the weekend golfer.  LSI strives to be the Tiger Woods of spine surgery, leading not only in quantity, but equally advancing quality.

Over the past few months, many of you have become familiar with my story. You know about my experience with pain, how Dr. Dt. Louis gave me my life back, and the subsequent partnership, out of which LSI was established. In addition, I have shared my goals, business ethics, and important medical and company information. During this time, many of you have also shared your stories and contributed ideas based on your experience, for which, I am thankful! Today, I would like to share with you a light-hearted post about some things that I love. I hope that reading this post will prompt a chuckle or two. God knows we need a few chuckles in these tough times!

1.    My kids' accomplishments
2.    Memories of my dad
3.    Kids
4.    Great steaks (Pittsburg style)
5.    Soft serve ice cream (chocolate and vanilla swirl)    
6.    Colorful Robert Tablot ties
7.    Fast cars
8.    Good penmanship
9.    Practical jokes
10.  Pentel pens
11.  Chuck Yeager and John Glenn
12.  Dirty martinis
13.  Great dreams
14.  Steve McQueen, Clint Eastwood, Al Pacino, Paul Newman - Now that would be a fun
       party!
15.  Double rainbow
16.  Babe Ruth calling his home run shot
17.  White Castle and In and Out Burgers
18.  The Kentucky Derby - It's like the Superbowl Married the Masters
19.  The Rolling Stones - They still give me hope that I could be a rock star at my age!
20.  Onside kicks in football
21.  San Diego Weather
22.  My mom's fried chicken, mashed potatoes and green beans cooked to mush.
23.  Christmas morning
24.  Cirque de Soleil shows
25.  Breakfast for dinner
26.  Joe Cocker
27.  Watching and listening to the bagpipe player at sunset at the Inn at Spanish Bay at
       Pebble Beach
28.  Perfectly still lake at sunrise
29.  Tina Fey's impression of Sarah Palin
30.  Vin Sculley's voice
31.  Peter Jacobson's attitude and humor
32.  Barbeque ribs at the Rendezvous in Memphis
33.  Reading the Sunday morning newspaper
34.  Drinking iced cold milk out of a frozen beer mug
35.  New TV shows - MAD Men and Friday Night Lights
36.  Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
37.  Kevin Costner's movies - Bill Durham, Field of Dreams and Tin Cup
38.  Grandmas - nothing better than grandmas!
39.  The three words "I love you"
40.  Hanging out with good friends
41.  Magic tricks
42.  Take me out to the ball game - 7th inning stretch
43.  Angel hair pasta
44.  Bobby Bowden and the FSU Seminoles
45.  Great Architecture
46.  Hitting the sweet spot on a golf sheet
47.  Sedona Arizona, Yosemite, The Grand Tetons
48.  Reynolds Plantation on Lake Oconee
49.  Watching The Wizard of Oz as a child
50.  Fenway Park and a Fenway frank  

The spine provides stability, enables mobility, and protects the spinal cord, major organs and nerves. Therefore, it is extremely important to prevent injury to this vital and complex structure. While there are some conditions that emerge due to natural wear and tear as we age, our daily activities also have the potential to inhibit the proper function of the spine, often resulting in severe pain.  For that reason, we should take all possible and necessary steps to protect our spine by ensuring that our daily habits are conducive to spinal health. 

In the March issue of our monthly newsletter, The Spinal Column, our Director of Physical Therapy, Irene Rademeyer, provided some useful prevention tips. These include: - proper posture, adequate back support, and stretching.  Many of us pay little attention to our habits and this article will help to raise your awareness and keep your spine in line!  To read Irene's article or to subscribe to The Spinal Column, please click here.

There is no doubt that if you ask my friends and family what my biggest pet peeve was, they would tell you clutter or uncleanliness.  As a matter of fact, they may even say that I am slightly obsessive about cleanliness, since I go beyond the average person's standard of what constitutes a clean environment and I emphasize its importance every day. While this has always been a personal trait, my extensive approach funnels into my professional life and has been reinforced through a series of unfortunate events.
 
Three years ago, my father- in- law passed away due to a staph infection after a routine hospital stay. He was 72 years young and in good health. One year later, my older brother had bypass surgery in the same hospital and ended up spending a month also because of a staph infection. It was then that I learned about MRSA, a particular strain of staph bacteria that causes infections and is infamous for its resistance to a number of antibiotics. While MRSA can be treated, it can also be fatal, as was the case involving my father-in-law. For more information about MRSA, click here.
 
A good friend of mine, who practices personal injury law, informed me that every hospital has MRSA infections, some to a greater degree than others. It was at that moment that I made the commitment that no matter what it costs, Laser Spine Institute would go above and beyond to protect the health and safety of our patients by preventing infection in our facilities. Currently, our infection rate is less than 0.1%, but our commitment to eliminate its occurrence remains firm. In a later post, I will outline the recent safety and sanitation steps that we have taken, as well as those that we are in the process of implementing.