After years of chronic pain stripped away his active lifestyle, 36-year-old Tyler Stratman of Clinton, Illinois, says he has finally reclaimed his life thanks to a specialized spine procedure now available in Central Illinois.

Stratman, who once ran several miles a day while living in Chicago, says his life changed dramatically when persistent back pain began about two and a half years ago. What started as discomfort escalated into debilitating immobility.

Active lifestyle disrupted by chronic back pain

The pain prompted Stratman to completely stop his habit of running four to five miles a day.

“Even walking down the street to get Starbucks, my whole entire body would just kind of charley horse. I would have to stop in between blocks and kind of do hamstring stretches and things like that. And you know I was only 33 years old. And so, it was a huge, huge part of my life taken away.”

An MRI eventually revealed a severe herniated disc in his lower spine. At its peak, Stratman describes unbearable pain and sleepless nights.

 “I don’t think I slept for probably four to five days,” Stratman explains. “I would have to go out in the middle of the night. We have a treadmill and I would have to go out at like three or four in the morning to walk just to relieve something – just so I wouldn’t feel pain.” 

Minimally invasive spine surgery offers new option in Central Illinois

After exhausting non-surgical options including physical therapy, steroid injections and chiropractic care, Stratman was referred to neurosurgeon Sohail Syed, MD, who specializes in minimally invasive endoscopic spine surgery.

Spine surgeons at OSF HealthCare Illinois Neurological Institute (OSF INI) Spine Institute perform approximately 1,000 spine surgeries each year, more than any other hospital system in the area and is the second largest program in Illinois. OSF HealthCare began using new minimally invasive spine surgery technology in June 2024, expanding treatment options for patients with certain spinal conditions. Since then, fellowship-trained spine surgeon Dr. Syed has performed 50 non-invasive spine surgeries using this advanced approach.

The endoscopic approach uses a small camera and specialized instruments inserted through a narrow pathway, avoiding the need for large incisions or significant tissue disruption.

Dr. Syed notes that in traditional spine surgery, surgeons often must remove bone and move a nerve aside to reach the problem area – steps the endoscopic technique can often minimize or avoid.

Endoscopic spine surgery reduces damage and recovery time

“Rather than going through all that, you can sneak underneath the nerve. And the endoscopic camera has an angle on it so it lets you look around the corner and work in the natural hole that exists in the spine without removing any bone or tissue and go right to the disc, remove the disc that’s pushing on the nerve or the bone spur and be in and out just using a one to two centimeter incision.” 

Dr. Syed emphasizes that surgery is typically a last resort after conservative treatments fail but says Stratman was an ideal candidate due to both his condition and mindset.

“He was a great candidate for endoscopic spine surgery because of the type of disc herniation he had, the location, his age and his attitude,” Dr. Syed emphasizes, “He was really willing to do the work required after to get the best benefit from the surgery.” 

For the surgery he underwent at OSF HealthCare St. Joseph Medical Center in Bloomington, Illinois, Stratman ultimately chose the less invasive option that allowed surgeons to access his spine through a natural pathway while he remained partially awake. Though initially daunting, he says the decision became clear after years of suffering.

It offered him hope and following a two-and-a-half-hour procedure, the results were almost immediate.

Finding immediate relief

“It was an instant relief. The kind of like nugget charley horse I just felt like I had in my back for those years – it was just gone. I didn’t feel it anymore,” he explains. 

Stratman was also relieved he didn’t have to travel to St. Louis or Chicago for the innovative surgical approach. He was back home the same day – seven hours after his surgery.

Dr. Syed notes that while some people experience immediate improvement, recovery timelines can vary depending on the severity and duration of nerve compression.

Surgery removes whatever’s causing an injury, but Dr. Syed reminds people the procedure doesn’t repair injury.

The body has to heal on its own, and that can take time. For some older patients, Dr. Syed cautions it could mean a few months before they feel significantly better.

“While the nerve is being hurt, so is the muscle, so is the skin and for all of that to recover, it can take time – especially for older patients. So, if you wake up feeling great, that’s awesome. But if you don’t, give it at least three months.” 

Now several months post-surgery, Stratman says he feels stronger and more mobile than ever.

“I’m better than I’ve ever been. I feel stronger than I ever have. My mobility is better than it ever has been. I feel more flexible and [I’m] sleeping fantastic.” 

Stratman is not ready to start running again. Instead, he has adapted his routine with other forms of exercise, such as strength training and fast walking. He remains focused on long-term health.

For others facing similar decisions, both Stratman and Dr. Syed stress the importance of persistence, trust and informed care.

And for Dr. Syed, the ultimate goal is simple: meaningful improvement in patients’ lives.  You can learn more here about non-invasive spine surgery available through OSF HealthCare.

Tyle Stratman who underwent non-invasive spine surgery

Dr. Sohail Syed, neurosurgeon specializing in spine surgery

B-roll-Non-invasive spine surgery-follow-up exam

OSF HealthCare recently hosted University of Illinois System President Tim Killeen and leaders from the system universities in Peoria, Chicago, Springfield and Urbana-Champaign to highlight the Equity Innovation Medicine (EquiMED) program and its expanding impact on health care to rural and underserved communities in Illinois. The program exposes medical students to individuals living in medically under-resourced communities in the U.S. and abroad, and it challenges students to come up with sustainable solutions to a health issue.

The four-year program for select medical students is led by John Vozenilek, MD, of OSF Innovation, who says the curriculum and experiences teach innovation through problem solving and provide skills alumni take into their residencies and practices.

“They are using their innovation skillset every single day. She (a former student at a recent gathering) said that she is using these innovation tools when she interviews patients to go deeper into their needs so she can think of new solutions to their problems.” 

Devon Izquierdo, a fourth-year medical student at UICOMP, spent time in the São Paulo area of Brazil meeting with the Guarani people, who have a territory in the northwestern part of the city called Jaraguá. The biggest problems they face are health literacy and mistrust of traditional medicine.

Devon says they decided to focus on a solution that involved children.

“Because they seemed more open and inviting to outsiders and we decided to create an educational game where they would learn how to treat common ailments like stomach aches, not only with their traditional medicine, but also with evidence-based medicine that we use in our Western culture and hopefully disseminate that information to the adult population as well.” 

Izquierdo and other students met with the local shaman and other key stakeholders to get input. They decided the best approach might be to create a game.

“We worked with one of the healers, Sonja Christina, as well as some of the leadership – her son Jefferson – to really get their input on the game and see what kids would really get excited about.” She adds, “So the next step would be to develop a prototype and bring it back to the community to see, does it really work, do they really enjoy it and where can we adjust as needed.”

Izquierdo will work with a team at Illinois State University in Normal, Illinois – an academic partner of OSF HealthCare – that has expertise in game theory and development. Meanwhile, she says the EquiMED program taught her the valuable lesson of listening critically and continuously.

“Continue to have a conversation. Build trust in the community and really come up with a solution together because, ultimately, we want to create a solution that they’re going to use – that really solves the issue that they want. We can always come in with ideas and a high-tech solution but if it’s not feasible and they’re not going to use it, are we really solving the problem that we’re trying to solve?” 

Solutions must be sustainable

Ben Mendez, another fourth-year EquiMED student worked in another region outside of São Paulo, Brazil – an area challenged with having safe drinking water. Mendez says he’s working to develop a water quality monitoring system using sensors and a communication tool to provide alerts when water quality drops to dangerous levels. In that case, private, non-profit organizations could step in to provide safe drinking water.

Mendez says it’s not ideal, but it is the most feasible, sustainable option.

“Instead of completely reshaping the infrastructure that doesn’t exist there, we’re just trying to give them a way to get ahead of a problem before it starts and alert them and give them a fighting chance to not drink this contaminated water essentially.” 

It’s a practical approach and a lesson he’s learned by working in vulnerable communities. Mendez predicts he’ll use that approach as he practices medicine in the future.

“So understanding how to work within the constraints of a financially driven system, which is the reality we’re in, will prepare me better for my residency and helping my career in finding solutions that we can still keep these basic services that we must as providers, but do it in a way that we can justify the cost and keep the lights on essentially.” 

Students also stress importance of developing soft skills, such as listening and collaborating, says Dr. Vozenilek.

“So, this idea of co-design, to really get to the patients’ needs and to really understand them fully and then design with the patient, the solution. Now that’s relevant for very complicated type of treatment paths that require a lot of technology, but it’s also extremely important for the types of simple things we do every day to keep ourselves and our loved ones healthy.” 

At the most recent meeting of collaborative partners, leaders also discussed how in the future they might align EquiMED efforts with national health priorities, such as the Food as Medicine initiative and exploring opportunities for collaboration with agricultural programs.

Dr. John Vozenilek

EquiMED students Devon Izquierdo and Ben Mendez