Home / Orthopedic Blog / Explore innovative and traditional treatments with physician telehealth consultations
Explore innovative and traditional treatments with physician telehealth consultations
By: Our Medical Team | October 23, 2025
When it comes to maintaining or regaining your health, the options can seem overwhelming. This is true of traditional therapies as well as breakthrough treatments that promise relief and recovery. The opportunity to thoroughly explore each alternative with an experienced healthcare provider can seem like a luxury as appointment times shrink. For those contemplating care from a specialist, simply getting to pre-procedure appointments can be a hurdle if the office is far from home or if the underlying condition makes it painful to move about.
Telehealth is an efficient way to manage known or chronic conditions that are being treated but may require regular check-ins with a physician or another healthcare provider. The sessions are considered a part of a patient’s medical record and subject to HIPAA privacy and security rules.
Videoconference consultations with a doctor are also an excellent avenue for discussing test and screening results and potential treatments. Using telehealth in this way gives patients valuable one-on-one time with a healthcare professional for an initial consultation about an unfamiliar procedure and for interpreting bloodwork, MRIs, x-Rays, CT scans, and other diagnostics. It enables people to ask questions that go beyond online searches to clarify and compare approaches, recovery times, safety, efficacy and other concerns. Screensharing enables care providers to visually home in on the root cause of a condition and highlight particular aspects of a procedure.
Telehealth is most effective when used judiciously to complement in-person visits that enable the physician to see, feel, and manipulate problem areas, as well as the way a patient reacts to stimuli, moves in relation to limitations, or shies away from pain. There is much to be learned from examining with hands, eyes and ears in three-dimensional space.
Case in Point: Damaged Spinal Discs
Damaged spinal discs can produce pain ranging from uncomfortable to excruciating and are one of the most common reasons patients reach out to doctors with expertise in musculoskeletal conditions. Torn discs not only inflame nerves within the disc itself, but fluid leaking from them affects the spinal nerve, which can send pain shooting into the neck, arms and legs. A patient’s journey to innovative treatments often comes on the heels of failed procedures or all-day, every-day pain that has significantly reduced their quality of life.
Many have tried traditional treatments aimed at reducing symptoms using rest, ice, over-the-counter pain relievers, physical therapy, braces, or steroid injections to provide temporary relief, but they did nothing to resolve the underlying cause. In more extreme cases, patients may be considering invasive surgery such as spinal fusion. Regardless of their efficacy, they share one thing in common—people are familiar with them. When new methodologies emerge, patients are curious but also often wary, even if the treatment has been proven effective.
An initial telehealth visit with an expert in an emerging treatment gives the patient and physician the opportunity to talk about health history, remedies tried to date and current symptoms, then go into detail on new procedures. Patients are encouraged to ask questions and perhaps think about their options in a new way. Doctors can begin to assess whether the patient is a good candidate for a specific treatment. Follow-up calls can further the conversation.
If a patient decides to move forward, an in-person visit is scheduled for the appropriate pre-procedure assessments. The results of any diagnostic tests or procedures the physician has ordered can be discussed in advance in another telehealth session. This interplay of telehealth and in-person visits pairs expedience and peace of mind both before and after the procedure as recovery and rehabilitation commence.
The Discseel® Procedure is a case in point. It differs markedly from traditional treatments in that it actually repairs damaged or torn discs with a natural Fibrin biologic and instigates healthy new tissue growth to stop leaking and nerve inflammation. While thousands of Discseel Procedures have been performed and more than 80 percent of patients have reported significant pain reduction, it is relatively new on the scene. Many patients who could benefit from it simply aren’t aware of it or are looking for more information from a trusted source. A telehealth visit can be the first step toward returning to an active life free of pain.
The Discseel® Procedure at Southwest Spine & Sports
Dr. Michael Wolff, MD, is a double-board certified interventional physical medicine doctor specializing in the non-surgical treatment of spine, sports and joint conditions. Based in Scottsdale, Arizona, he is also the Southwest’s first Master Discseel® Instructor, serving as a passionate and experienced advocate for a treatment he has seen work wonders in patients with annular tears, herniated discs, bulging discs, sciatica and degenerative disc disease.
He regularly consults in telehealth appointments with patients seeking relief from acute and chronic pain, exploring both traditional treatments and the Discseel® Procedure to help determine the most effective course of action. With empathy and a strong desire to educate patients, telehealth consultations are followed by outreach from Dr. Wolff’s Director of Regenerative Medicine, who shares medical studies, testimonials, FAQs and other information that can help each patient make a confident, well-informed decision.
Telehealth consultations are a valuable tool used by Dr. Wolff and other physicians to complement clinical visits, medical procedures, rehabilitation and recovery. If you’re experiencing back, neck or joint pain, schedule your telehealth visit today.
TAGS
