Lynette Hoffler was tired of the constant back and forth in treating her sciatica.
“I’d see chiropractors and different pain specialists to stop the pain,” says Lynette, 70. “Every now and then it would help, and then a week later I’d be in pain again.”
An avid skier, Lynette had been dreaming about a trip to the Alps. But for more than a year, the pain in her back was so bad that she had trouble walking and could barely sit comfortably. She brought her concerns to Holy Name orthopedic surgeon Dr. Jonathan Archer, who had consulted with her on a knee replacement. Dr. Archer referred Lynette to Holy Name spine surgeon Dr. Teja Karukonda.
When Dr. Karukonda saw Lynette’s X-rays, he told her why she was in such pain: She had a condition called spondylolisthesis. Essentially, three of her vertebrae were so worn out that they no longer connected, causing instability in her spine.
“Those bones would shift out of alignment with the rest of her spine and would severely aggravate nerve symptoms,” Dr. Karukonda says. “Her spine was not moving in tandem with the rest of her body.”
Dr. Karukonda recommended robotic spinal fusion surgery to fix it. Using the state-of-the-art globus ExcelsiusGPS robotic surgical system, Dr. Karukonda could precisely fix Lynette’s spine with fewer, smaller incisions than traditional surgery.
“If you imagine the spine as a building, I’m rebuilding the foundation with metal implants like screws, rods, and cages,” he says.
Because the robot has an intraoperative CT scanner, Dr. Karukonda could see in real time precisely where to make each move. It provides a much more detailed, clearer view than an X-ray, which only gives a two-dimensional, static image.
Lynette felt comfortable with Dr. Karukonda and confident in her care. She had the surgery in October 2024 and started physical therapy a week later. The sciatica had been causing Lynette to hunch over, so she had to work on standing up straight. Lynette says she started feeling back to normal about three weeks after the surgery.
“Every day got a little less painful,” she said.
Today, Lynette is pain-free and back to the activities she loves, like going on walks with her friends. She hopes to return to skiing later this year.
“Seventy is now the new 50,” she says. “Now I feel like 50 again.”
Dr. Karukonda says he was happy to offer Lynette personalized care that vastly improved her quality of life.
“Sometimes you can get lost in a big hospital,” he says. “At Holy Name, each patient receives a tremendous amount of support and attention so that they are really taken care of.”
