Pain while sitting?
If you have Pain while sitting, you may have a herniated disc.
Sitting puts tremendous pressure on your lower spinal discs.
If you have a herniated or bulging disc, this increased pressure can make the bulge more pronounced, aggravating your lower back pain when seated.
Is it a Herniated Disc?
Radiating pain into your leg (sciatica)?
Lumbar discs typically bulge toward the back or side, near spinal nerve roots. The disc may directly compress the nerve or leak acidic irritants that cause inflammation. This results in burning pain, numbness, weakness, or tingling down your thigh, leg, and foot-usually on one side.
Pain aggravated by specific activities?
Lower back pain and sciatica often worsen with bending forward, lifting heavy objects, pushing, pulling, coughing, or sneezing. The pain typically comes on fast without a clear triggering event. Good news: nearly 90% of people feel relief within 6 weeks, even without treatment.
The field of spine surgery is increasingly advanced and in turn very complex.
Due to surgeon experience, available technologies and even philosophy, are not offered the treatments or solutions they’re looking for by their local surgeons, driving them to look overseas.
Our German spine specialists can provide the very latest in Artificial Disc Replacement, Facet Joint Replacement, Minimally invasive fusion surgery, and intensive rehabilitation packages.
At Stenum Hospital our mission is to provide a superior solution and more affordable options without excessive waiting.
While the U.S. has respected pioneers who champion motion preservation, Dr. Ritter-Lang’s career volume of 8,000+ disc replacements places him well ahead of all global practitioners.
Some are specialists in multi-level cervical and lumbar arthroplasty, but in terms of overall career years, pioneering background, and absolute disc replacement volume, Dr. Karsten Ritter-Lang remains the more experienced spine surgeon.
If you’re dealing with chronic leg and/or back pain and considering spine surgery, it’s worth asking whether a overseas motion-preserving option is available to you from the start, and if fusion is the recommendation, why that’s the case. If you’ve already had a spine procedure and you’re facing a second surgery, the question becomes whether that next level could be treated in a way that preserves mobility and function.
Patients Seek Artificial Disc Replacement in Germany
International patients frequently travel to specialized spine centers in Germany to access advanced motion-preserving spine surgery alternatives to conventional spinal fusion.
Key clinical differentiators include:
- Multi-Level Approaches: Routine performance of multi-level lumbar (L4-L5, L5-S1) and cervical disc arthroplasty.
- Prosthetic Technology: Access to next-generation viscoelastic and unconstrained disc prosthetics (e.g., M6-L, M6-C, ProDisc-L, LP-ESP, activL).
- Anterior Retroperitoneal Exposure: Muscle-sparing anterior lumbar approaches designed to preserve posterior musculature and reduce adjacent segment disease (ASD).
About Dr. Karsten Ritter-Lang: Motion Preservation & Spine Arthroplasty
Dr. Karsten Ritter-Lang is recognized internationally for his clinical focus on intervertebral disc prosthetics and complex spinal reconstruction.
- Surgical Experience: Over 30 years dedicated to motion-preserving spinal procedures, having performed thousands of cervical and lumbar artificial disc replacements.
- Academic Lineage: Trained directly under Prof. Dr. Kurt Schellnack and Dr. Karin Büttner-Janz at the Charité University Hospital in Berlin—the pioneering research team that developed the original Charité artificial disc prosthesis.
- Clinical Focus: Multi-level lumbar disc replacement, motion-preserving reconstruction for degenerative disc disease, and alternatives to spinal fusion.
Remote Consultations & International MRI Reviews
For patients seeking preliminary assessments or second opinions regarding total disc replacement and spinal stenosis treatments go to:
BetterDiscReplacement
Stenum Hospital International Patient Portal: Preliminary remote MRI evaluations, international intake protocols, and surgical technology overviews for European and overseas patients
Stenum Hospital