London Spine Unit - Back and Neck Pain Clinic Avis 251

Maxine is an extremely professional and knowledgable clinician. She has a wonderful way of intelligently taking her patients thru a complex area of Physiotherapy.

The professionalism and the efficiency of London Spine Unit have no equal in London. I have been treated in the best possible way by a dedicated and super knowledgeable staff.

I have experienced increasing amount of
neck pain for the past two years and during this time have sort advice from the spine consultants at Spire Gatwick Park, The Horder Clinic and Spire Bushy Park. The 3 consultants advice was much the same, you have arthritis and spinal stenosis. There is no possibility of surgical treatment and we will refer you to a pain specialist, whose advised cortisone injections and increasing amounts of pain killers including morphine sulphate and BuTrans (opiate patches) none of which had much effect.

I then got to hear of Mr Akmal. His advice was to try one more injection (making 5 in total) and explained has reservations about surgery. I am now 87 years of age with a pacemaker which normally prevents MRI scans necessary for any surgery. Mr Akmal was able to find a hospital who would undertake an MRI scan (St Bart's) and result a C5/6 foraminotomy was diagnosed as the best surgical approach.

The operation was carried out in September 2017 and the result has been most successful. I would estimate that the pain I an now experiencing is about on quarter of that five months ago and the amount of pain killers I take is also about one quarter, only paracetamol and ibroprofen (no opiates).

Mr Akmal advised that residual pain is likely to further decrease for one year or even 18 months after surgery.

I have had increasingly severe neck and arm symptoms which, over the last two years have started to effect my work and personal life. As a fellow medic, I was reluctant to undergo any invasive procedure, well aware of potential complications. However.... I have had an amazing result from the nerve injection procedure carried out by Mr Akmal. It has been truly transformative. Throughout the journey, I have had full confidence in Mr Akmal and his team, including his fantastic anaesthetist. I would not hesitate to recommend him to my friends and family. He is one of the most accomplished and confidence-inspiring clinicians I have had occasion to meet.

Fantastically smooth service was provided from start to finish which exactly what you need when you are going through some excruciating back pain.
Between Mr Mo and Dr Lok, they provide reassurance and guidance on all possible options with clear language and positive spirits.
Not to say that the rest of the team - nursing and support functions are equally brilliant.
Appointment times were always within a short time frame.
Where there were administrative issues with my insurance company, they sought to help smooth those issues too.
Would absolutely recommend their service - and while I hope to never see them again having regained good health, should I have any further back issues I will certainly turn to them first.

Prior to my surgery I had experienced back pain for close to ten years, getting progressively worse, affecting my hips and legs too. Through swimming, massages and heat patches I coped on a day to day basis, but with two young children, getting tired of being in pain and how that affects you plus a desire to stay active I contacted Mr Akmal.
My initial consultation and discussion of my MRI scan was very professional and thorough. At no stage did I feel talked into a procedure and recommendations felt personal to my situation. My husband and I left feeling confident with the planned treatment and team.
I had three spinal injections prior to major lumbar spinal surgery. Whilst I underwent the spinal injections with Mr Akmal, I also saw a physio on a weekly basis, creating a daily routine of exercises to prepare me for spinal surgery.
After six months of treatment and several appointments with Mr Akmal, discussing the various options available, I underwent surgery. Although nervous, I felt very informed and reassured that this was the right solution for me. I have never regretted this decision.
Although I spent a few extra days at the hospital than expected - but with fantastic nurses and a physio team! - the recovery has been pretty smooth, not fast, and it takes great daily effort!
My quality of life has increased tremendously, not having my children say "Be careful, mum has a bad back" is wonderful and enjoying a long haul flight or sleeping in a different bed on holiday instead of fearing it has been life changing.
I cannot recommend Mr Akmal and his team enough.
Thank you!

Everything about my experience, from the friendly receptionist to Mr Akmal and Mr Lok, was positive. I found everyone very caring and helpful and would highly recommend.

Very impressed with the service and the advice. I was on a likely path to radical surgery and may have avoided that through the more conservative treatments advised by the clinic

Earlier this year I fractured my back and suffered from an acute pain. As I had an excellent past experience, being treated successfully by other wonderful units at the hospital, I referred myself to the Spine Unit. From the first moment I entered the unit I felt at home. All members of staff, doctors, nurses and administrators are highly professional, welcoming, friendly, caring, helpful and warm. They all treat patients with the utmost respect and the highest level of professionalism.
Mr. Akmal, Dr. Lok, Dr. Hussain, Hashim Saifuddin, Miguel, Pinar Cak, Carmen Ciurchea, Katrina Mitchell and the rest of the team as well as Natalie Courtois-Purgass the anaesthetian and the ward where I stayed / they have all been wonderful. Each visit has been a pleasure. A typical example is the fact that every time I came in for an appointment everyone took the time to have a conversation with me. I could not have asked for a better treatment and I owe them my recovery.
May I also add that from my past and present experiences this is the best hospital and I would recommend it to every single member of the public.
A big Thank You. You deserve 10 stars and a special award.

I was under a different consultant in a hospital near where i live. He had given me codeine and gebapentin as pain relief which did nothing and then he did an injection which didn't work and i was awake because he refused to use sedation. Luckily he referred me to Akmal only because he didn't know how next to proceed and thank goodness he did!

Akmal convinced me to do the injection again. I was crying because the first one hadn't worked and i was in agony. But i was sedated and they worked for a week but went back to normal. I was instantly happy that he had helped me even if it was small improvement. He also gave me much better pain killer that finally stopped the constipation and eased the pain a little. Why hadn't i had it through my first consultant??

The next step for me was keyhole lumbar discetomy. I had total faith that he would do a great job as he had my best interests at heart and was great in surgery. And he did do a great job. He said i had a very large bulge and he doesn't know how i coped with it so well. I am now sat here in the clinic for my follow up after a successful surgery.

His team is also lovely and professional. The only setback was Akmal lost my first MRI scan from my first consultant and i wasn't fully briefed on pre admission procedures by the nurse. Hence the 4 star.

But all in all all a great experience.

I had a herniated disc which by 2013 was putting so much pressure on my spinal cord that after a series of steroid injections Mo Akmal decided we had to opt for a discectomy in March 2014. I liked the fact that he did not resort to operating on me immediately and that he wanted to see whether alternative treatments might do the trick, but by the time we moved to having the discectomy I was crawling around and on very heavy pain killers. The operation was a complete success although I am sure that doing all the right physio and pilates afterwards made a big difference to my eventual recovery (I reckon it took me 2 years to get back to 98%). You never get back to 100% after a condition like this because your brain will always want to protect a part of your body which has become vulnerable and so there will always be that fear of doing stuff which might set you back. The answer is to do the right stuf: get a standing desk; walk lots; do daily physio and control your weight. I have been pain free for the last 2 1/2 years. I never thought I would be. Mo (who I researched carefully before committing to him) is first rate and his team is lovely.

In October 2016 I was treated by Mr. Mo Akmal at the Hospital of St. John & St. Elizabeth for a de-compression of the spine. From the outset Mr. Akmal was reassuring and the outcome of the operation fully justified his confidence. The operation was pain-free and although I had to learn to walk again (!) this was quickly rectified by some excellent follow-up physiotherapy. There was an instant improvement in my body movement and I have subsequently experienced no adverse after-effects.

I cannot too highly recommend Mr. Akmal’s procedure.

Viscount Bridgeman

5 star treatment all the way from start to finish after only two weeks since my lumber decompression and fusion op I am so much better after years of low back pain would recommend Mr Akmal and his team to any one so far so good well worth the journeys from norfolk

I have Mr Mo Akmal to thank (along with his shoulder specialist colleague Carlos Cobiella) for my ability to live a normal life following my cycling accident. Mo had me walking and moving in no time at all and was very good in keeping my worries and concerns at bay with facts and stats on my own progress.

Highly recommended. 4 years ago I saw 3 doctors, regarding a neck issues, my MRI showed damage to the C4/5 the C5/6 and C6/7, at that stage I was 37. The first 2 doctors I came across were happy to cut me open and operate, more like butches to me. Dr Akmal had a different approach, cause of my age, we opted to first try injections and Physiotherapy. The course of injections lasted until last September when the pain returned. Dr Akmal administered an additional injection in September, the hope it might settle things down again, but didn’t take this time. I finely opted for surgery, this took place 20th Dec 2017, for a C5/6, C6/7 anterior cervical decompression and fusion, there was talk also of my C4/C5 but Dr Akmal would not know until I was cut open to see the full extent of the damage. The result I also had the C4/5 anterior cervical decompression and disc replacement done at the same time. The operation ended up taking around 3 and half hours due to the extent damage. I was booked in for 5 nights but returned home after 3 days, my surgery went better than expected, I was out of bed the next day with rehabilitation taking place. The road to recovery has been steady, the pain I was going through, that was causing me to take around 2500 to 3000mg of pain killers daily try deal with the pain has stopped gone. The professional level of advise and service given has been top notch. I would recommend Dr Akmal to anyone, my life is returning to normal, but can take up to a 1 year and half to fully recover.

Happy to share the issues I went through with people, or even as an out side view on things. I am not one for been operated on.

I had a lower back disc bulge that was touching my sciatic nerve, meant I was on a lot of painkillers and would have to go through a stretching routine in the morning to be able to put my shoes on. Having any surgery is scary, but on your back, always makes it that little bit more. Mr Mo Akmal put my mind at rest throughout the consultancy sessions and before my procedure, his confidence in his ability also helped. Since the operation, I've not had any issue's again (touch wood), a year after the op I started playing rugby again.

Mr Akmal and his team have been incredibly supportive of me in all my spinal problems. The quality of care taken to accurately decide what surgery I would need was of the highest order. I am now in no pain. I have recovered much quicker than was expected. I have had eight vertebrae operated on and two discs replaced. I walk without a stick and my strength increases daily. I recommend anyone with spinal problems to contact Mr Akmal and he will bring about the best outcome for you.
Steve Hartnoll.

If your a back problem you should hope that Mr Akmal is available . He is wonderful

I had spinal fusion in 2014 and have been in pain ever since. probably worse than before the fusion. no one ever pointed out to me that i should wait until my hip replacement was ready to be done and then see what happened to the pain in my back. i fervently wish someone had said this. my life is now an endless seesaw of painkillers and cortisone injections.
i'm sure the operation was very competently done but i wish i hadnt had it.

My personal view is that Mr Akmal is an outstanding orthopeadic surgeon. He never pushed me to get surgery and was willing to look at all the options available to me in an objective and balanced way until the time when I decided to be operated on. Having had the surgery in the end, I will always be grateful for the new life the procedure has offered me, painfree and just as active as before.
JM Tonti