Meet Han Jo Kim, MD – Spine Surgeons in Westchester County NY

Scoliosis Doctors in NYC

Spine surgery is extremely complex, and Dr. Han Jo Kim and his team of Spine Surgeons in Westchester County NY prides themselves on providing a comprehensive patient care approach when determining treatment options. He believes in having a dynamic approach to surgery and aims to provide the best surgical treatment for each patient based on an individual’s needs, expectations, and lifestyle. He works to help patients explore all other surgery alternatives before recommending patients for surgery.

How Can We Help?

Here at the office of Han Jo Kim, MD, we specialize in treating ailments of the spine. The spine is a crucial structure of the body, which works to offer support while also protecting the nerves that control both movement and feeling. Injuries to this area can be highly detrimental to your health. That is why you need to work with a trusted expert who is well versed in this area of care. Dr. Kim is an expert in this field and will help provide the treatment options necessary to give patients the best chance at making a full recovery.

Cervical Spine Surgery

Patients who decide to work with us here at the office of Dr. Han Jo Kim will receive various treatment options based on the condition you are experiencing.

Dr. Kim is well versed in performing the following procedures:

  • Anterior Cervical Fusion
  • Posterior Cervical Fusion
  • Cervical Disc Replacement
  • Cervical Foraminotomy
  • Cervical Laminoplasty
  • Cervical Laminectomy
  • Cervical Osteotomies

When To Receive Cervical Spine Surgery?

Due to spinal surgery’s extreme invasiveness, this form of treatment should first be considered when all others have failed to deliver the desired results. Our Spine Surgeons in Westchester County NY understand this and will never rush to force a patient to undergo a procedure. However, he also understands that waiting too long to operate can have permanent ramifications on a patient’s health. Those dealing with the below symptoms who have been unable to find relief should seriously consider the surgical approach for healing and recovery:

  • Neck pain.
  • Tingling.
  • Numbness.
  • Weakness.
  • Suspected nerve impingement or damage.

Causes Of Cervical Spine Problems

Several problematic occurrences can cause previously mentioned symptoms and issues. The type of procedure that Dr. Kim administers will depend on the problem currently affecting your neck. Some of the most common problems that can lead to surgery may include:

  • Degenerative disc disorders.
  • Trauma.
  • Instability of the spine.
  • Cervical deformities.

What Takes Place During The Procedure?

Once your neck issue has been diagnosed, Dr. Kim can move forward with the surgery needed to get you back to full health. The process first involves removing the disc, bone, or deformity, that is causing unwanted symptoms to occur. In some cases, the affected vertebrae will be fused to improve the stability of the spine. Bone grafts are performed to achieve this task. However, in some cases, metal plates are also screwed into the vertebrae for further stabilization.  

Getting Scoliosis Surgery

Scoliosis is a spinal condition that typically presents itself in a child during growth spurts that occur right before puberty. Although usually not a significant health concern, this condition can have many problematic results if left untreated. In severe enough cases, surgery will be required to improve the patient’s health. Dr. Kim will walk you through when scoliosis surgery is necessary and what steps are necessary to help complete this process.

Dr. Kim is well versed in performing the following procedures:

  • Spinal Fusion
  • Spinal Tethering
  • Growing Rod Placement
  • Spinal Osteotomies

How Can I Prevent Back Pain?

How Can Our Spine Surgeons in Westchester County NY Help You?

Most of us have had some sort of back pain from one time or another. Whether we tweaked it when we got up in the morning, or an accident causes more chronic pain to develop in your back, we’ve all had to deal with back pain. Living with back pain from day to day can be hard to swallow. From waking up to settling down for the night, and even trying to go to sleep, there are things that are ultimately hindered or limited by back pain. This chronic back pain has a hard time healing on its own and may need to be manipulated in order to heal properly. There are also complications that can arise after having lasting chronic back pain that doesn’t subside. These complications include both mental and physical attributes of back pain which can become stronger over time if not treated correctly by our Spine Surgeons in Westchester County NY, Dr. Han Jo Kim. 

Understanding this, it’s safe to say that we should all steer clear of any back pain in the near future. There are treatments and treatment alternatives that can help elevate the pain, but why get to that point in the first place. The best way to start preventing back pain, according to our Spine Surgeons in Westchester County NY, is to first understand how back pain can come up in the first place and what pain is. That’s why we recommend first going into the specifics on how back pain is caused before we can explain how to prevent it.

Causes of Back Pain

There are typical causes of most injuries that could range from one traumatic moment for a specific area of the body or that same area of the body being used and labored too much for it to properly heal. The overuse injury is one of the many ways in which back pain can be caused and usually features the victim of the injury lifting or working out too much. These activities can put a serious strain on the muscles without proper recovery and insight into how much weight you can physically lift or handle in a sitting without injury. This idea is continued with the inclusion of sitting and other activities that for a prolonged period of time could cause overuse injury in the back. While this back pain from prolonged periods is important to understand for daily life, there are some other ways that back pain can be caused and sustained in the body. For example accidents and sudden physically traumatic events like a car accident could cause spinal misalignment and ultimately sustained back pain that won’t go away overnight.

Something Dr. Han Jo Kim, Spine Surgeons in Westchester County NY, points out that continuing the several activities listed that can cause back pain can sustain the ailment and ultimately make it worse. This may go without saying for some things, while others may try to push themselves to get over the pain when trying to work their back out. This cannot be the case because the back pain experienced will only get sorer and heighten the severity of the ailment the more the painful part of the back is exercised. Our back pain doctor on the long island also weighed in the fact that back pain prevention is also about strengthening the back muscles the right way. This means not over lifting with reps, weights, or not waiting for a recovery. This also means that correct form and posture while performing these back strengthening exercises is crucial to a long-standing and efficient back strengthening schedule. 

Back Pain Prevention

Out of the seven days in the week, Our Spine Surgeons in Westchester County NY recommends spending two days strengthening your back along with making sure there is ample time to recover in between the two days. This would mean putting a one-to-two day interval between the days that you’re strengthening your back in order to optimize the week around holistically working out while remaining back-conscious. Furthermore, the best way to prevent back pain is by working on your posture. Slouching while walking and sitting down puts too much emphasis on one part of the back and will ultimately weaken your back to the point where your lower back support is uneven and will be feeling the effects of chronic back pain.

Spine Surgeons in Westchester County NY


From this information, there is a lot to cover when it comes to properly supporting your back and ways to prevent further injuring an already injured back. For more information on how you or a loved one worrying about chronic can learn about ways to prevent it, visit our website, today!

What are the Symptoms of Cervical Spine Pain?

We go through life running, jumping, lifting, and twisting around. We don’t realize the toll and stress it takes on our necks. Neck pain is a common complaint among many and about two-thirds of people go through it in their lifetimes. Often, neck pains tend to be in a deep, constant state of stress that travels down to the shoulders, arms, and hands. This pain leaves one in severe weakness and numbness. This condition is associated with Cervical Spondylosis, a degenerative process causing radiating pain. Dr. Han Jo Kim is the go-to professional! His years of experience, knowledge, and specialization allows him to successfully cater to the needs of his patients and help live a pain-free life. Get in touch today and get the care you deserve! 

What is Cervical Spondylosis?

It is the natural wearing down of cartilage, disk, ligaments, and bones in your neck. It leads to neck pain, stiffness, and so forth. With age, the plates of the cervical spine steadily separate, lose liquid, and become stiffer. Cervical spondylosis ordinarily happens in moderately aged and older individuals.

Your spine is made up of 24 vertebrates and the cervical spine alone consists of seven of them and in between them, lie the nerves which carry messages back and forth throughout the body. Between each vertebrae are disk, jelly-like circles that act as shock absorbers.  Between each pair of vertebrates, there are three joints, and within each joint, there is cartilage which provides cushioning. Seeing how intense the structure put together illustrates how spondylosis takes place.

What are the risk factors?

With any condition there are always underlying factors that lead up to the severe outcome. Here are few possible risks:

  • Aging 
  • Overweight & inactive 
  • Previous injuries
  • Poor posture 
  • Work-related activities that put extra strain 
  • Uncomfortable prolonged positions 
  • Genetic factors 
  • Smoking 

What are the causes?

As we age, the spine goes through major changes due to stress, wear & tear. Here are a few changes:

  • Degeneration– The spinal plates in your neck may gradually wear out With time, the circles become more slender, and the delicate tissue has less versatility. On the off chance that you or your folks measure in a little more limited in stature than you did years back, this is ordinary imploding or settling of your circles.
  • Herniation– Ordinary maturing can make some portion of your spinal plate tear or break. This is called herniated plate. The herniation can permit the plate to swell out, pushing on close by tissue or a spinal nerve. This pressing factor can cause agony, shivering or deadness.
  • Osteoarthritis – a progressive condition that causes cartilage in your joints to degenerate. With osteoarthritis, cartilage degenerates faster than with normal aging.
  • Bone Spurs – When cartilage in the joints of the vertebrae in your spine starts to degenerate and bone tissue rubs directly against other bone tissue, abnormal bone growths develop along the edges of vertebrae. cause no symptoms.

What are the most common symptoms? 

Let’s be honest, you could have signs and not even know it’s related! Some symptoms include:

  • Neck pain or stiffness
  • A nagging soreness in the neck
  • Muscle Spasms
  • Clicking, popping or grinding sound when moving the neck 
  • Dizziness
  • Headaches 

What are the possible treatments?

Treatment options tend to vary on the symptoms and the reactions to the body. Often when severe symptoms do occur, conservative treat most cases. Some include:

  • Physical therapy
  • Ice, heat, and massage 
  • Oral medications
  • Soft collar or brace
  • Injection therapy 
  • Cervical epidural block
  • Cervical facet joint block 
  • Media branch black and radiofrequency ablation 

What are preventative measures?

  • Engage in physical activity 
  • Practice good form 
  • Use of proper equipment
  • Good posture 
  • Avoid trauma to the neck

Spine Surgeons in Westchester County NY

Dr. Han Jo Kim and his staff are here to provide the best care plan possible. He is known for his spine surgery utilizing the most effective and safe techniques catering and tailoring to each specific person. Also, keeping in mind efforts to minimize complications, recovery time, and optimize outcomes. We provide help to patients and keep in mind that our primary objective is to recover from spinal ailments. Some of our services include cervical spine surgery, scoliosis surgery, spinal deformity surgery, and many more. Call us today!