7th Asia Pacific Spine Symposium

Dr Ball has attended the 7th Asia Pacific Spine Symposium held in Brisbane, QLD by Stryker Spine. This meeting gathered "global opinion leaders ..... to focus on minimally invasive spine interventions and emerging cervical spine surgical techniques".

Dr Ball attended sessions on cervical arthroplasty (disc replacement) and spine navigation technology. He is now accredited to use the Cervicore disc replacement prosthesis.

Elevating Best Practice in Spine

Dr Ball has attended an course on spinal osteotomy held as part of the Elevating Best Practice in Spine program offered by DePuy Spine.

Osteotomies are an advanced spine surgery technique that allows correction of complex deformities of the spine. The course brought together complex spine surgeons from around Australia to extend their skills in this area of surgery.

Dr Ball also spoke on anterior cervical spinal surgery (through the front of the neck) as part of the same education series.

Sydney Neurospine is Moving to a New Location

Sydney Neurospine, the practice of Dr Jonathon Ball is moving to a new office in the North Shore Medical Centre from June 10, 2010.

We are staying in the same building but moving to a newly renovated office on Level 6. This larger office will allow us to provide the same service in a space specially designed for the needs of our patients and practice.

Our phone number and contact details remain the same and Sydney Neurospine will continue as normal during this period.

Our new address is

Suite 1, Level 6

North Shore Medical Centre

66 Pacific Highway

St Leonards NSW 2065

Spine Cancer Presentation

Last week, Dr Ball was invited to speak to the NSW Radiation Oncology Training Program held at Royal North Shore Hospital about the role of surgery and radiation treatment for spinal metastases. Invited attendees included all members of the training program from NSW.

As treatment of cancer improves, metatstatic cancer in the spine is an increasingly common condition which, in some cases, can be helped with surgery. Working together with the other specialists involved, such as radiation oncologists, can lead to improved outcomes for patients.

Further Educational Achievements

After recently teaching on another Early Management of Severe Trauma Course at Royal North Shore Hospital, Dr Ball has been awarded 'Senior Instructor' status by the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons.

Dr Ball is also now a co-director and committee member of the Australian and New Zealand Surgical Skills Education and Training (ASSET) course, also run by the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons.

Dr Ball's commitment to medical education continues to be a major focus of his career and he believes it benefits his practice and patients by encouraging ongoing knowledge acquisition and skills improvement.

Spinal Surgery Workshop

Dr Ball just returned from a 2 day workshop on spinal surgery held by the Neurosurgical Society of Australasia. The workshop was limited to 30 practicing neurosurgeons who have a strong clinical interest in spinal surgery.

This workshop covered a wide range of issues related to spinal surgery, covering minimally invasive spine surgery, biologics, trauma, reconstructive techniques and revision strategies. Dr Ball gave a well received presentation on the non-operative management of thoraco-lumbar spine fractures.

Recovery after Spinal Cord Injury Paper

Dr Ball, together with some international colleagues, has had a paper e-published (ahead of print) entitled 'Clinical Predictors of Recovery after Blunt Spinal Cord Trauma: Systematic Review' in the Journal of Neurotrauma.

The paper examines what evidence exists for clinical, imaging, and therapeutic factors affecting recovery following spinal cord injury (SCI).