My first and foremost passion is my family. My wife, Rachel, and I have been together for over 12 years. I have one child from a previous marriage, Blair. She is 16 and an honor student at Fayetteville High School. She is active in theater and has been in multiple productions at Arts Live. My other two children - Holden, age seven, and Griffin, age four - attend The New School in Fayetteville, and keep us quite busy. Rachel ran my practice for many years, but has “retired” to be a stay-at-home mom and is wonderful at it. I am very proud of my kids. Holden is a blue belt in Tae Kwon Do. Griffin’s passion is doing whatever his big brother is doing. Griffin is currently a green belt in the Little Dragon Tae Kwon Do class.

As a result of Holden’s drive in martial arts, I have fulfilled a lifelong dream of becoming a black belt. Although I have always wanted to do this, I have never made the time. I was awarded my first-degree black belt in June of 2010 reaching my goal of black belt by age 50. My new goal is fourth degree by age 55.

I also love my Razorbacks. We attend all home football games now with the boys and Blair when her social schedule will allow. We also attend most basketball games. I have been a die-hard Razorback all my life. Some of my fondest memories from my childhood are of my parents driving me to Fayetteville to see a Razorback football game and then driving the four hours back that night listening to scores on AM radio.

I am very passionate about my work. I do not believe that you can be successful at treating painful spinal disorders without drive and passion. I made the commitment to focus only on the spine almost ten years ago. I felt it was necessary to get additional certifications by the American Board of Pain Medicine and the American Board of Spinal Surgeons in addition to my board certification by the American Board of Neurological Surgeons. Although at the time I did not realize it, I became the only physician in America who is board certified by all three of those organizations. Focusing and limiting my practice has bettered my ability to take care of my patients and has also allowed me more time to spend with my family. The area of spine care is so vast now that I do not believe that you can be dedicated to your treatment if you also focus on other areas of the body. I do miss doing brain surgery but my patients are better off with my focus and education solely on spine.

I have spearheaded the group of doctors that built the Physician’s Specialty Hospital. We started this in order to have more control over the care and treatment of our patients. We have been open since April of 2009. We feel like we have created an environment that will best serve our patients and provide state of the art treatment. It has also allowed me to bring the XLIF procedure to Northwest Arkansas. No other hospital would purchase the equipment due to cost. The ability to control what is available to treat our patients regardless of the profit margin is one of the main reasons our group of physicians built this hospital.

In early 2010, the Society of Lateral Access Surgeons made me an instructor. I now teach the XLIF procedure to surgeons from across the country and world.

I appreciate you taking time to learn a little about me. I hope if you do have problems with your back or neck you get into see someone qualified and trained to treat you as an individual and not just the next patient on a list or a potential surgical candidate.



Thanks,
JB