Blythe Orthopedics & Spine, Inc.

Blythe Orthopedics & Spine, Inc. Doc Blythe, Orthopedic Spine/Minimally Invasive Spine surgeon, hunter šŸ¦Œ, Veteran, NSDQ ā˜ŗļø

A fellowship trained Orthopedic Spine Surgeon, Dr. Blythe specializes in minimally invasive surgery. He received his Osteopathic Medical Degree (DO) from Des Moines University in Des Moines, IA. He underwent his orthopedic training in Detroit, MI with Henry Ford Hospitals. He also completed a fellowship in spine surgery with a concentration on minimally invasive techniques through the Spine Instit

ute of Arizona in Scottsdale, AZ. Dr. Blythe focuses on the most innovative surgical options for his patients. His specified training in minimally invasive spine surgery is unique to the Middle Tennessee Area. This additional training allows him to offer the most tissue sparing and anatomy conserving surgical procedures available anywhere. Recently, Dr. Blythe became the first surgeon in Tennessee to use an innovative and minimally invasive technology to treat neck pain.

ā€œEach patientā€™s condition is unique and each patient deserves a customized surgical treatment. I refuse to take a cookie-cutter approach to spine surgery.ā€ ā€“ Dr. Blythe

Dr. Blythe is committed to treating each patient with the absolute best care possible.

07/16/2026

As an orthopedic spine surgeon, people are often surprised when I tell them thisā€¦

I began seeing a chiropractor šŸ˜Š ()

Iā€™m also a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO), so I was trained in manual medicine long before I became a spine surgeon. Iā€™ve spent my career studying the spine, treating thousands of patients, and performing complex spine surgery.

But hereā€™s something Iā€™ve learnedā€¦

No one specialty has all the answers.

For years, Iā€™ve lived with chronic mid-thoracic pain related to injuries I sustained during my military service. Like many of my patients, Iā€™ve learned that understanding the spine doesnā€™t make you immune to spine problems.

Recently, I decided to become the patient.

After a few chiropractic treatments, I noticed a meaningful improvement in my thoracic pain.

Does that mean chiropractic care cures everything?

Absolutely not.

Just like surgery doesnā€™t cure everything.

The right treatment depends on the right diagnosis.

The X-rays Iā€™m posting today are mine.

Take a look at them.

Youā€™ll notice multilevel cervical and thoracic spondylosis with osteophyte formation and degenerative disc disease. Like many imaging studies, the findings are real, but the images alone donā€™t determine treatment. The patient sitting in front of you does.

Those images donā€™t tell my whole story.

Neither does an MRI.

Neither does an X-ray.

Patients are more than pictures.

Some need exercise.

Some need physical therapy.

Some benefit from osteopathic manipulation.

Some benefit from chiropractic care.

Some need injections.

And yesā€¦some need surgery.

The best chiropractors I know understand those differences. They recognize when a patient needs something beyond manipulation and they donā€™t hesitate to refer them. Those are the providers I enjoy working with, and many have become trusted referral partners over the years.

Medicine shouldnā€™t be about defending your profession.

It should be about doing whatā€™s right for the patient.

Iā€™ve operated on thousands of spines.

This time, someone else helped mine.

And Iā€™m grateful they did.

@

07/03/2026

Pressure teaches.
Failure humbles.
Faith rebuilds.
Work proves it.

Iā€™ve been the medic, the surgeon, the teacher, the student, the father, and the farmer.

Life stripped me down.
God brought me back to the work.

Burn off the dead wood.
Build again.

06/27/2026

šŸ§˜ā€ā™€ļø Yoga and back pain: helpful, harmful, or overhyped?

As a spine surgeon, I hear this question often:
ā€œShould I be doing yoga for my back?ā€

The best answer is: Sometimes, when done correctly, it can be very helpful.

The highest quality evidence supports yoga as a reasonable option for patients with stable chronic nonspecific low back pain. In those patients, yoga may improve pain, function, flexibility, balance, confidence, and overall movement tolerance.

But hereā€™s the important part: yoga is not a cure all, and it is not a replacement for a proper evaluation.

Yoga appears to work best when it is:
āœ… Modified for back pain
āœ… Gradual and controlled
āœ… Focused on mobility, breathing, and strength
āœ… Guided by someone who understands limitations
āœ… Avoiding aggressive twisting, deep bending, or painful positions

For many patients, yoga can be similar in benefit to other structured exercise programs, physical therapy, or stretching. The goal is not extreme poses. The goal is safe, consistent movement.

šŸš© Please donā€™t ignore warning signs. Back pain should be evaluated when it comes with leg weakness, progressive numbness, worsening radiating pain, balance problems, bowel or bladder changes, fever, trauma, or unexplained weight loss.

Spine surgeon takeaway:
Yoga can be a reasonable and evidence supported option for stable chronic back pain, but the right diagnosis should always come first. šŸ¦“

This is wrong for so many reasons and just because you can doesnā€™t always mean you should. I swear there are way too man...
06/10/2026

This is wrong for so many reasons and just because you can doesnā€™t always mean you should. I swear there are way too many mediocre spine surgeons out there and it makes it hard for the decent hardworking ones. This is guaranteed to fail guaranteed!

05/29/2026

šŸšØ This should p**s every patient in America off.

The physician in this video is Dr. Elisabeth Potter, a board certified breast reconstruction surgeon in Austin, Texas. She is not some random person on the internet trying to go viral. She is a surgeon who takes care of women with breast cancer.

According to Dr. Potter, she was interrupted while a patient with breast cancer was asleep on the operating table. UnitedHealthcare wanted her to explain the diagnosis and justify why the patient needed to stay overnight.

Read that again.

A woman is asleep.
On an operating table.
Being treated for breast cancer.
And somewhere in the middle of that, the insurance machine wants the doctor to explain why she needs care.

UnitedHealthcare disputes parts of the story and says the surgery and overnight observation were approved. Fine. Put their statement on the table too.

But that does not change the bigger issue.

Why the hell are surgeons dealing with this during cases at all?

Why are doctors having to justify obvious medical care to insurance companies that do not know the patient, have not examined the patient, and are not standing in that operating room?

Why are patients and doctors forced to play this disgusting game where one denial, one wrong code, one delay, one peer to peer, or one administrative technicality can blow up someoneā€™s care?

And then after Dr. Potter spoke out, she says UnitedHealthcare sent her a six page legal letter stamped confidential, demanding she apologize, delete the posts, and say she lied.

She did not stay quiet.

Good.

Because this is exactly how the machine works. It exhausts people. It scares people. It buries doctors in paperwork. It makes patients wait. It makes nurses and staff sit on hold. It turns cancer care into an administrative battle. And then when someone finally tells the truth, the system tries to shut them up.

Iā€™m going on record.

Insurance companies have way too much power in American healthcare.

They decide what gets approved.
They decide what gets delayed.
They decide what they think is ā€œmedically necessary.ā€
And too often, they act like the doctor, the patient, and the disease are all inconveniences to their profit margin.

Patients see one side of this. Doctors see the other side every single day.

The denials.
The delays.
The peer to peer calls with people who do not know the patient.
The unpaid work.
The months of chasing payment for services already done.
The constant feeling that you are begging a corporation to allow you to take care of a human being.

And letā€™s not pretend insurance is the only problem.

Big pharma is part of the problem.
Massive hospital systems are part of the problem.
Corporate medicine is part of the problem.

These are big businesses. And too often, the patient is not the priority. The bottom dollar is.

That fancy hospital lobby does not mean the system behind it is healthy. A hospital can look beautiful on the outside and be toxic, understaffed, poorly run, and completely disconnected from what patients and healthcare workers are actually dealing with.

They will charge you $100 for a bandage and act like that is normal.

This is what happens when medicine becomes ā€œbetter businessā€ and the patient becomes the product.

And this is not left versus right.

Cancer does not care who you vote for.
Medical bills do not care who you vote for.
Insurance denials do not care who you vote for.
Burned out healthcare workers do not belong to one political party.

Every four years, healthcare should not be up for debate.

Healthcare should be a human right. In America, it damn sure should be an American right.

This is why the Speak FREE Act matters. Healthcare workers should be protected when they speak professionally and truthfully about what is happening to patients and what is happening inside this broken system.

No threats.
No violence.
No bu****it.

Just truth. Accountability. Reform.

Patients deserve better.
Doctors deserve better.
Nurses deserve better.
Healthcare workers deserve better.

Be careful with the insurance you choose. Be careful with the hospitals you trust. Ask questions. Read your plan. Know who is making decisions about your care.

Because in this system, those decisions can determine whether your care is delayed, whether your treatment is covered, and whether you spend your sickest moments fighting a corporation instead of fighting your disease.

Iā€™m going to keep talking about this.

Because what is happening every single day in the name of medicine and better business is disgusting.

šŸ©ŗšŸ’”āš ļø

04/15/2026

Still dealing with back pain, leg pain, sciatica, numbness, or spinal stenosis?

You may not need a big open spine surgery.

For the right patient, minimally invasive spine surgery can mean smaller incisions, less tissue disruption, less blood loss, less postoperative pain, and a faster recovery.

My goal is simple: get you back to doing what you want, how you want, as safely and efficiently as possible. In my practice, many patients are back to normal activity by 6 weeks and off pain medication.

Not every patient needs the same operation. Spine surgery is not one-size-fits-all. The right approach depends on your diagnosis, your anatomy, and the actual treatment goal.

If your pain is limiting your life, stop guessing. Schedule an appointment today and find out whether a minimally invasive or traditional open approach is the right option for you.

04/08/2026

One year ago, Mr. Salinas underwent a staged 3-level OLIF reconstruction.

Today, he is doing well, moving well, and back to living life with far more freedom.

A lot of people hear the words ā€œspine fusionā€ and immediately picture a massive open surgery with a long recovery. That is not always the case.

This is a good example of what modern minimally invasive spine surgery can look like.

In this case, the surgery was staged.
ā€”Day 1: placement of interbody cages through a small oblique approach to the abdomen
ā€”Day 2: posterior screws and decompression through small incisions in the back

That means no big whack in the back. Smaller incisions. Less tissue disruption. Careful restoration of structure and alignment.

But here is the part most people do not understand:
šŸ‘‰ successful spine fusion is not just about ā€œtaking pressure off a nerve.ā€
šŸ‘‰ It is also about restoring the natural geometry of the spine.

Every person has a unique pelvic incidence. Think of that as part of your built-in spinal blueprint. When the discs wear out and the spine degenerates, the normal lumbar lordosis can collapse and no longer match that blueprint. When that mismatch gets bad enough, patients do not just hurt more. They can become mechanically unbalanced and that matters a lot!

When spinal alignment is not properly restored, the levels above a fusion often take on more stress over time. That can contribute to future breakdown, what we call adjacent segment disease.

So the goal is not simply to fuse levels.
-The goal is to restore balance.
-Restore stability.
-Restore height.
-Restore alignment.
ā€¼ļøAll of these gives the patient the best chance at a durable result, but the patient still has to do their part.

Mr. Salinas has done well for two reasons:
-His surgery was carefully planned and executed
-He did the necessary work afterwards

Recovery still matters šŸ’Æ

For my fusion patients, that usually means:
-Brace use for 6 weeks
-No bending, lifting, or twisting for 6 weeks
-Early walking (same day is important)
-Some need physical therapy
-Close follow-up at 2 weeks/6 weeks/3 months/1 year/yearly on anniversary of surgery

Key Takeaways for successful surgery:
-Good surgery (carpentry) matters.
-Good rehabilitation matters.
-Patient effort matters.

That combination is what leads to outcomes like this.

For those of you who have had back surgery, or may need it one day, here is the real question:
-Would you rather have a surgery that simply ā€œgets byā€
-Or one that is built around restoring the actual mechanics and balance of your spine?

Letā€™s talk about it in the comments.

04/08/2026

Long but very interesting

04/07/2026

ā€œBack surgeryā€ is not supposed to look like thisā€¦ except sometimes it does.

Mike is only 6 weeks out from a 2 level minimally invasive lumbar decompression at L4-5 and L5-S1.

Now look at him:
No pain meds
Walking 2+ miles a day
Brace off
No leg pain
Back to normal activity

Thatā€™s what happens when the right problem gets the right operation.

Free the nerves. Preserve everything else. Get life moving again.

Mikeā€™s doing great, and this video says it better than I can.

Address

13100 N Western Avenue, Suite 200
Oklahoma City, OK
73114

Opening Hours

Monday 8am - 5pm
Tuesday 8am - 5pm
Wednesday 8am - 5pm
Thursday 8am - 5pm
Friday 8am - 5pm

Telephone

+14054184500

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