Specialised spine surgery · Bern, Burgdorf and Langnau
When back or neck pain dominates daily life, clarity comes first.
I carefully determine where your symptoms come from and which treatment fits your findings and your circumstances – without surgery, with targeted injections, or operatively. I recommend surgery only when it is medically sound and offers a clear expected benefit.
Depending on your insurance model, a medical referral may be required before the consultation.
- FMH Orthopaedic Surgery & Traumatology, focus on spine surgery
- Habilitation, University of Bern · Senior Researcher, Inselspital
- AO Spine Knowledge Forum, Steering Member
Treatment guided by findings – not by method.
The starting point is never a procedure, but the question of which treatment fits your situation. Many complaints can be relieved without surgery – with physiotherapy or targeted injections. When surgery is advisable, I choose the most tissue-sparing technique the findings allow.
Your symptoms
Back and neck problems can have different causes. Many can initially be treated without surgery. What matters is whether symptoms, physical examination and imaging fit together.
Where do you feel the symptoms? Select a region of the spine.
Cervical spine (C1–C7)
Neck pain radiating into the arm or hand – sometimes with tingling, numbness or loss of strength.
Treatment: Many cervical complaints can be treated conservatively; targeted injections can relieve symptoms and confirm the diagnosis.
Take seriously: impaired fine motor skills of the hands or an unsteady gait.
Thoracic spine (Th1–Th12)
Less often affected by degeneration – but the most common site of osteoporotic vertebral fractures.
Treatment: Osteoporotic fractures are treated conservatively or reinforced minimally invasively with bone cement – in suitable patients under local anaesthesia.
Important: after a first osteoporotic fracture, the risk of further fractures rises.
Lumbar spine (L1–L5)
Most back problems arise here – often radiating into the leg.
Treatment: Physiotherapy and targeted injections first. If surgery is advisable: endoscopic or microsurgical – as gentle as the findings allow.
Seek immediate assessment: increasing paralysis or bladder and bowel dysfunction.
Sacrum & sacroiliac joint
Low-seated pain, often one-sided, sometimes radiating into the buttock or thigh.
Treatment: Image-guided injections; in selected cases minimally invasive stabilisation – sometimes under local anaesthesia.
Treatment spectrum
The advantage of a broadly based consultation lies in the indication: which treatment – if surgery at all – fits your findings?
Gentle first
Gentle and minimally invasive procedures
- Endoscopic disc surgery («keyhole surgery»)
- Microsurgical decompression of the narrowed spinal canal
- Minimally invasive cement reinforcement of osteoporotic vertebrae
- Image-guided treatments of the sacroiliac joint
- Targeted injections and interventional pain therapy
When it gets demanding
Complex procedures and revision surgery
- Instability after previous spine surgery
- Correction of deformity, scoliosis and impaired balance
- Osteoporotic fractures, tumour and metastasis surgery
- Injuries of the entire spine (cervical, thoracic, lumbar)
- Care of elite athletes
Profile
What you can expect from my consultation.
Clinical experience
More than ten years of experience in spine surgery, with many years at the university hospitals of Freiburg and Bern and today at Orthopädie Sonnenhof. The spectrum ranges from tissue-sparing decompressions to complex revision surgery.
Evidence-based advice
As Privatdozent at the University of Bern and Senior Researcher at the Inselspital, I critically appraise new procedures and translate scientific evidence into concrete treatment recommendations.
International exchange
Through my work with and within the AO, an international umbrella organisation for research and education, I am in continuous exchange with specialised spine centres.
First and second opinion
An independent assessment before an important decision.
A second opinion can be valuable when surgery has been recommended, symptoms persist despite treatment, or symptoms and imaging do not clearly fit together. You receive a clear explanation of your options – including the option not to operate.
A direct request is possible. With family-doctor, Telmed or comparable insurance models, a referral may be required in advance for cost coverage.
Typical occasions
- Surgery or fusion has been recommended.
- Symptoms persist despite treatment.
- MRI, CT and symptoms do not clearly fit together.
- New symptoms have appeared after earlier surgery.
- You want to better understand benefits, risks and alternatives.
Your path to the consultation
Four steps from the first request to a clear recommendation – so you know what to expect.
Request
Briefly describe your situation – online or by phone. You will receive a prompt personal reply about which step makes sense.
Records
Existing images (MRI, CT, X-ray) and reports can be submitted in advance – leaving time in the consultation for what matters.
Consultation & examination
A thorough conversation and physical examination. We look at your images together – explained in plain language.
Recommendation & report
A clear and honest recommendation with a written report to you and your family doctor.
Locations
Consultations in Bern and the Emmental – three locations under the roof of Orthopädie Sonnenhof, keeping your way to the consultation short.
Consultations & surgery
Bern
Salvisbergstrasse 4
3006 Bern
Direct line spine surgery:
Consultations & surgery
Burgdorf
Oberburgstrasse 54
3400 Burgdorf
Appointments:
Consultations
Langnau i.E.
Dorfbergstrasse 10
3550 Langnau im Emmental
Appointments:
Which next step makes sense for you?
Briefly describe your situation. You will receive a personal reply on whether a consultation, a second opinion or another assessment makes sense first.