Following a car accident, Pasha Koulechov suffered with chronic neck pain for roughly two years before he found his way to the Spine Institute Northwest. Pasha had tried nearly everything short of surgery to relieve his pain. He can rattle off the options he tested out: “Physiotherapy, acupuncture, massage therapy, intermuscular stimulation… nothing else was working.”

A major reason Pasha had avoided surgery was the perception that even if surgery fixed his pain, it would put him out of commission for months. “I’ve researched the spinal fusion and you know, we prepared for it,” he remembers. “I was going to move into [a friend's] house because you know, usually you can’t do anything for three months, that was the perception that I had in my mind.”

When he opted for a minimally invasive cervical MIS decompression surgery at the Spine Institute Northwest, Pasha found “this procedure was completely different.” Instead of being dependent on others for help, “the next day … I was home by myself, and I didn’t need any care and I didn’t need anybody to look after me.”

Pasha says he appreciated the doctors and staff at the Spine Institute’s focus on “getting me better” and answering questions with straight talk rather than a hard sell. After living with chronic neck pain for as long as he did, now Pasha is happy to be independent and free from pain.

Hear more from Pasha about his experience: