Top spine doctors in US

1. Alfred Bonati, MD, of The Bonati Spine Institute. Dr. Bonati has become a leader in minimally invasive spine surgery procedures and technology. During his career, spanning more than 30 years, Dr. Bonati has completed more than 25,000 lumbar and cervical procedures using arthroscopic and laser technology.

2. Vincent Arlet, MD, of the University of Virginia School of Medicine. Dr. Arlet has a special interest in treating patients with scoliosis. He recently treated a patient using a new database he created, Scolisoft, to show clinical pictures of different types of spine curvatures.

3. Isador Lieberman, MD, of the Texas Back Institute. Dr. Lieberman has a passion for minimally invasive spine surgery, which has led him to become an internationally recognized leader in the field. He recently co-developed SpineAssist, a robotic tool used to perform minimally invasive spine surgery that is used at the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Plano.

4. Bernard Rawlins, MD, of the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City. Dr. Rawlins is experienced in treating all spinal disorders from the cervical spine to scoliosis in adult and pediatric patients. His expertise in treating so many different conditions is supplemented by his research interests, including spine biomechanics, gene-mediated spine fusion and innovative surgical techniques.


5. Matthew El-Kadi, MD, of the University of Pittsburgh Passavant. As chief of neurosurgical surgery at the University of Pittsburgh Passavant spine center, Dr. El- Kadi has been instrumental in growing the facility and expanding its services beyond traditional spine surgery. Dr. El-Kadi has a professional interest in treating patients with fusion and minimally invasive spine surgery techniques.


6. Mick Perez-Cruet, MD, of the Michigan Head & Spine Institute at the Providence Medical Center. Dr. Perez-Cruet is a pioneer in minimally invasive spine surgery and recently treated a patient in June, helping her return to her golf game by August. He treated her collapsed disc by combining a decompression for stenosis with a spinal fusion.


7. James St. Louis, MD, of Laser Spine Institute. Dr. St. Louis is committed to providing his patients with the best treatment possible for spinal injuries and disorders. He has consistently been on the cutting edge of minimally invasive spine surgery techniques and has trained many young physicians on innovative surgical techniques throughout his career.

8. Kenneth Light, MD, of the San Francisco Spine Center. Dr. Light recently became one of the only physicians in the United States to successfully reverse a spinal fusion. Spinal fusions were thought to be permanent procedures, until recently, and many fusions severely limit the patient's range of motion. This was the case for Dr. Light's patient, who also suffered from constant pain before the reversal.


9. Choll Kim, MD, PhD, of the Spine Institute of San Diego. Dr. Kim is a nationally known expert on computer-assisted minimally invasive spine surgery. He shares his expertise with fellow spine surgeons as director of the education lab in the minimally invasive spine center at Alvarado Hospital in San Diego.


10. Gary Alegre, MD, of Alpine Orthopaedic Group. After performing over 200 minimally invasive spinal fusion procedures in the past few years, Dr. Alegre now instructs experienced physicians around the world on minimally invasive spinal fusion techniques. Most recently, two physicians from Australia traveled to view and learn from Dr. Alegre.