A Scottsdale, Arizona-based physician with a medical career that has spanned two decades, Dr. Jonathan "Jon" Komar serves as a physician consultant at OptiMed Solutions, a boutique consultancy that he established in 2018. An accomplished medical researcher, Jon Komar, MD, co-authored the research paper Scheuermann's Kyphosis Following Cervical Spinal Cord Injury.
Kyphosis is a condition defined by excess curvature in the thoracic region of the spine. In a healthy spine, the vertebrae align in a pattern that forms a curve, but the curve is minimal (less than 40 degrees). A person can be diagnosed with kyphosis if the curvature is greater than 45 degrees. The most prevalent symptom of kyphosis is a rounded back, sometimes called a hunchback. If the curvature is not severe, a patient may experience no further symptoms. However, in many cases, kyphosis presents with symptoms such as back pain and stiffness, tenderness of the spine, and a low capacity to perform daily activities. The back pain could be a result of musculoskeletal tension in the region of the abnormal curvature. Adults are also more prone to complications from severe kyphosis. These include persistent pain that does not improve with medication. Breathing difficulty occurs if there is compression of the lungs and/or airway. In some cases, there may also be compression of certain nerves that run through the spinal cord in the affected region. When this happens, the nerves become damaged. In the case of severe damage, control or feeling in that part of the body is lost. Some complications include weakness or numbness in the extremities, poor coordination due to a lack of sense of balance, and loss of bladder control. These severe cases of kyphosis require more invasive treatment -- typically, surgery.
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AuthorJonathan Komar, MD, has involved himself as an active voice in the medical community throughout his career. Archives
March 2022
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