To start with, I had to pay for my visit prior to seeing the doctor, which seems somewhat backward. There were an incredible number of people in the waiting area, and the whole appointment made me feel like a number. I was seen in a timely manner. Dr. Korunda did a very cursory exam, didn't explore any avenues i.e. sleep, stress, surrounding potential tendon inflammation, body mechanics, the prior 2 surgeries to my left hip, etc... He failed to explain my MRI and xray results (of which I had one of my lumbar spine, left hip, and pelvis). After any attempt to really figure out what the problem was and based on very vague and not substantiated data, he suggested facet injections. Should this fail to provide relief, then he suggested radio frequency nerve ablation. With a model of the spine, he spent about 30 seconds explaining the back anatomy. He failed to explain the procedure properly, it's advantages, potential side effects, the duration of the relief, the costs, whether he administered the shots (or who did), whether I would be sedated, etc... He also failed to address whether hiding the symptoms with these shots or the ablation would lead me to further damage my spine since they would hide the pain.
I felt like he rushed me and provided no service whatsoever. I did ask about neural pathways developed due to chronic pain and he said that no it wasn't that as I had physical signs on my MRI. At the beginning of the appt., he said the opposite, that my spine looked great.
Dr. Korunda is no better and no worse than the other doctors in Naples, but he works on people's spines! I'd hope he would understand that most patients don't want someone messing with their spine until a thorough exam has been done, there is some confirmation about the source of their pain - not just a guess in the absence of data, a complete explanation about the procedure suggested and its risks, and any and all alternatives.
As patients I feel that we get bullied. These injections have not been proven to be very effective in the short/long term and they necessitate repetition. They are painful and expensive. They are, however, profitable and it seems that's much more important than using other strategies which involve a bit more time, but may address the source of the problem. read more