Alpine Spine & Orthopedics, 920 E 800 N Suite 202, Orem, UT (2026)

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https://www.alpinespineorthopedics.com/

$Yet again we have seen numerous athletes where spine fractures nearly ended their careers, yet who then had enough heali...$

12/31/2025

Yet again we have seen numerous athletes where spine fractures nearly ended their careers, yet who then had enough healing and repair from our minimally-invasive regenerative procedures to fully return to sports. It is never a guarantee of course, but far better to try these less invasive approaches before jumping to much higher-risk spinal hardware surgeries with irreversible long-term consequences and high complication rates. These outcomes are worth all the late nights and long years of research to push the future of tissue engineering into more successful reparative approaches. This patient wrote the following review (case & photo posted with permission) which means the world to us:

"I am a 19 year old female high jumper who jumps in the ACC at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In the Fall of 2024, I found out I had a bilateral pars fracture of my L5 vertebrae. I also had a few annular tears to the surrounding disks. Upon further examination, my case became more complex involving the early destabilization of my SI joints and fluid in my facets. Our main concern was healing my pars fracture, which would be very hard to do with just rest and no intervention considering that my bones were calcified apart instead of healed together. Surgery was an option, but would limit my mobility, so we researched alternative solutions that would aid in healing. We came across Dr. McMurtrey at Alpine Spine & Orthopedics and his stem cell procedures and immediately started researching. The results for young adult athletes, like me, were spectacular…. I have gradually worked up to full activity without any back pain whatsoever. I modify my lifts so I am not back squatting, dead lifting, or power cleaning, but besides that I have full mobility and strength and no pain. I am so grateful to say that I just competed in my first collegiate track meet a few weeks ago jumping an indoor season personal record and with no pain. Without Dr. McMurtrey my pars would have not had what it needed to grow back together and to provide stability. I am forever thankful for Dr. McMurtrey and for the good Lord for getting me back to my sport!"

12/29/2025

3D-Guided Upper Cervical Spine Regenerative 3D Stem Cell Patching: AtlantoAxial AtlantoOccipital CranioCervical C0-1 & C1-2 Minimally-Invasive Interventions.

Trans-oral and trans-nasal approaches to the cervical spine have been done for well over 100 years, including to the pituitary by Harvey Cushing in the 1900s then craniovertebral pathologies as early as 1917 for atlantoaxial subluxation as well as resection of tumors, tuberculosis, and even a bullet! Then in the 1980s Dr. Arnold H. Menezes significantly advanced these approaches and techniques to dramatically improve both safety and efficacy to make this approach the mainstay for these unique pathologies.

Dr Richard J. McMurtrey was able to operate with several of these legends and innovators in neurosurgery, including Dr. Arnold H. Menezes himself on atlantoaxial instabilities and craniocervical subluxations, as well as Dr. John A. Jane and Dr. Edward H. Oldfield on numerous trans-oral and trans-nasal cases as well as complex pediatric brain and spine pathologies, in addition to many traumas at Denver General county hospital, and he uses this experience along with ultra-high-resolution 3D image-guidance to target these injuries and pathologies with the most exact minimally-invasive techniques.

Shown are just a few of the cases Dr. McMurtrey has performed to the anterior upper cervical spine. These injuries are also comorbid with numerous other pathologies. Our prior posts showed some of the complex anatomy with upper cervical procedures around brainstem, spinal cord, and critical arteries, and Dr McMurtrey uses his expertise in tissue engineering and stem cell research at the University of Oxford to create bespoke 3D stem cell patches with scaffolding matrix to help adhere and integrate the cells directly into tissue defects and injuries like C0-1, C1-2, & alar and transverse ligaments specific to each patient’s injuries. More detailed videos coming soon.

www.AlpineSpineOrthopedics.com

Copyright © 2025 ASOI
Richard J McMurtrey MD MSc
All Rights Reserved

12/29/2025

3D-Guided Upper Cervical Spine Regenerative Stem Cell Patching Interventions: AtlantoAxial AtlantoOccipital Craniocervical C0-1 & C1-2 Minimally-Invasive Reparative Interventions.

Overview of the Atlanto-Axial & Atlanto-Occipital C0-1 & C1-2 Joints of the Upper Cervical Spine: These joints of the spine are synovial joints with cartilage and surrounding capsule and ligaments, hence they can have many problems similar to other joints in the body, including erosive arthritis, traumatic instability, arthropathy, arthrosis, hypertrophy, chondromalacia, degeneration, collapse, autoimmune damage, cysts, and cartilage damage.

We are one of the only places on earth implementing novel 3D stem cell patches with biologic scaffolding matrix and signaling factors to help adhere and integrate the cells directly into tissue defects and injuries.

We are also one of the only places on earth that can target and treat highly complex injuries throughout the body with minimally-invasive high-resolution 3D-guided technologies. Dr. McMurtrey combines his training in neurosurgery, orthopedic surgery, trauma surgery, critical care, and minimally-invasive interventions with his expertise in tissue engineering and stem cell research at the University of Oxford to advance the field of regenerative medicine and provide customized treatment plans specific to patient's injuries and conditions.

New video coming soon on YouTube

www.AlpineSpineOrthopedics.com

The Leader in Regenerative Interventional Orthopedics, Spine, Nerve, Pain, & Sports Medicine with Minimally-Invasive Surgery Alternatives & Image-Guided Interventions for Cervical, Thoracic, Lumbar, & Sacral Spine!

Copyright © 2025
Richard J. McMurtrey MD, MSc
Alpine Spine & Orthopedics Institute
All Rights Reserved

12/29/2025

The Future of 3D Stem Cell Tissue Engineering Repair Interventions:

We are designing numerous types of stem cell hydrogels and scaffolding matrix patches embued with signaling factors and composite biomaterials for directly repairing a wide variety of tissue injuries and conditions. This already has shown incredible applications in joint, cartilage, ligament, tendon, bone, muscle, nerve, disc, and spine injuries.

Dr Richard J McMurtrey MD MSc is the master of biomaterial scaffolds and cellular tissue engineering. Over the last decade he has published ground-breaking work creating the first 3D neural tissues from patients' own cells by reprogramming them into stem cells and culturing on 3D nano-patterned biocompatible scaffolds where new neurons formed new synaptic connections by following unique signaling cues. At that time Yamanaka had not even won the Nobel prize yet for his stem cell work, so this was cutting edge back then and still today, and this has further expanded into numerous orthopedic applications. The hope is to soon apply further discoveries to promote even better healing and repair in many more types of tissue injuries and further advance these applications in brain, spinal cord, nerve, joint, ligament, cartilage, bone, disc, and spine injuries.

Using patient's own mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), Dr McMurtrey creates natural biomaterial scaffolds to help these stem cells bind, integrate, and rebuild specific tissue injuries. There are even more types of natural and synthetic biocompatible scaffoldings in research phase, and Dr. McMurtrey continues leading research work with 3D stem cell patches that are placed with minimally-invasive 3D image-guided techniques.

www.AlpineSpineOrthopedics.com

Copyright © 2025 Alpine Spine & Orthopedics Institute. All Rights Reserved.

12/29/2025

It has been one year since implementing the newest and most innovative mobile robotic intraoperative 3D imaging system for minimally-invasive spine and orthopedic procedures. This 3D imaging has provided next-level visualization of injuries and anatomic defects along with incredible procedural accuracy for directly targeting and repairing injuries. We are leading the way at the forefront of the future of medicine, and this technology combined with our regenerative stem cell patching with scaffolding matrix patching takes things to the next level. Even after a year, we are still finding fascinating new advantages and results from these technologies, and despite hospitals and academic centers having far more money, funding, and resources (and being able to share costs among multiple doctors), we are still the only institution with this advanced 3D imaging technology doing these newer types of reparative complex spine and orthopedic procedures, and more innovation is still on the way!

Copyright © 2025 Alpine Spine & Orthopedics Institute. All Rights Reserved.

12/29/2025

Regenerative Stem Cell Patching Interventions for Knee Joint Arthritis Cartilage & Meniscus Injury Repair-- Optimizing Best Stem Cell Therapy Outcomes with Hydrogel Scaffolding Matrix with Minimally-Invasive Image-Guided Procedures.

Dr. McMurtrey has many years of surgical experience and stem cell research experience using customized Stem Cells + Hydrogel Scaffolding Matrix Designs for many clinical applications with many published scientific works in stem cells, tissue engineering, and regenerative medicine research. We have numerous documented cases of cartilage and meniscus repair using these new strategies (some of which you can see the imaging yourself in our prior posts).

Alpine Spine & Orthopedics Institute
https://www.AlpineSpineOrthopedics.com

Leading the Way in Regenerative Medicine & Interventional Orthopedics, Spine, Nerve, Pain, & Sports Medicine with Minimally-Invasive Surgery Alternatives & Image-Guided Interventions:
Arthritis & Joint Treatments
Cartilage, Ligament, Tendon, Meniscus, & Muscle Tissue Repair
Neck & Back Pain - Spinal Interventions
Nerve & Neuropathy Therapies
PRF & PRP Treatments
Peptide Therapies
Stem Cell Therapies

Copyright © 2025 Alpine Spine & Orthopedics Institute
All Rights Reserved

$Yet another successful bilateral pars fracture repair with the patient now living his best life and dunking! (with permi...$

12/18/2025

Yet another successful bilateral pars fracture repair with the patient now living his best life and dunking! (with permission to post his case and photo). We have seen numerous athletes who thought their spine fractures ended their careers, yet who then had enough healing and repair from our procedures to fully return to football, soccer, basketball, baseball, gymnastics, and many more sports. It is never a guarantee of course, but far better to try these less invasive approaches before jumping to much higher-risk spinal hardware surgeries with irreversible long-term consequences and high failure rates. These outcomes that save people from surgery are worth all the late nights and long years of research to push the future of minimally-invasive interventions into more successful reparative approaches.

This patient's pain fully resolved by 18 weeks at which time he began playing again with his basketball team, and now 14 months out he is doing amazing. He and his family kindly sent us the following, which means the world to us:

"Dear Dr. McMurtrey, I wanted to take a moment to thank you—not just for what you did medically, but for how you did it. When we first came to you, we were carrying a lot of uncertainty. As a parent, it’s hard to put into words what it feels like to watch your child hurt and not know which path is the right one. From the start, you were thoughtful, honest, and measured. You never promised miracles. You explained possibilities, risks, and realities with clarity and respect, and that mattered more than you probably realize. 14 months later, my son is doing things we once weren’t sure would be possible again. He’s moving freely, training intelligently, and trusting his body... we don’t take any of this for granted. Whether it was timing, preparation, persistence, your expertise—or maybe a little help from God—we are deeply grateful for the role you played in giving him a chance. Thank you for practicing medicine with integrity, humility, and care. Thank you for treating us like people, not cases, and for helping us navigate one of the harder chapters of our lives with steadiness and compassion."

12/14/2025

There are a shocking number of cases of missed atlantoaxial & craniocervical instabilities with alar & transverse ligament injuries in kids with falls and traumas, especially suspicious when clavicle fractures are present, suggesting high-impact trauma to the spine which some doctors ignore thinking the neck is twisted due to muscle spasms. Several of these cases were found to have atlantoaxial rotary subluxation with brachial plexus or spinal cord injuries. If a child has suffered a trauma severe enough to break the clavicle, there should be an extremely high awareness and suspicion of atlantoaxial ligament injuries in the spine to help prevent permanent nerve and spinal cord injuries.

We are the only institute that uses integrated stem cell patches with scaffolding matrix and complex 3D image-guided procedures for exact targeting and visualization during upper cervical spine procedures. The atlanto-axial (C1-2) & atlanto-occipital (C0-1) joints of the upper cervical spine are synovial joints with cartilage, capsule, ligaments, but no disc, hence they can have many problems similar to other joints in the body, including erosive arthritis, ligament instabilities, chondromalacia, effusion, cysts, collapse, autoimmune damage, osteophytes, ligament injuries, adjacent facet arthrosis, capsular instabilities, cartilage damage, as well as unique consequences of nerve compression, neuropathy, myelopathy, and involvement of brachial plexus, cranial nerves, brainstem, and spinal cord. We are also one of the only places on earth that can target and treat highly complex injuries throughout the body with minimally-invasive high-resolution 3D-guided technologies. Dr. McMurtrey combines his training in neurosurgery, orthopedic trauma surgery, and minimally-invasive interventions with his expertise in tissue engineering and stem cell research at the University of Oxford to advance the field of regenerative medicine to provide customized treatment plans specific to patient's injuries and conditions.

www.AlpineSpineOrthopedics.com

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41343684/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29145335/

12/08/2025

Dr McMurtrey in action! The details revealed by our intraoperative 3D imaging for procedural guidance never cease to impress!

Dr. Richard J. McMurtrey MD, MSc is an accomplished physician, surgeon, scientist, and engineer, with clinical expertise in complex minimally-invasive surgical procedures in spine, nerve, and orthopedics, combined with research expertise and high-impact discoveries in stem cells and tissue engineering at the University of Oxford, where he pioneered new minimally-invasive tissue engineering techniques using biomaterial scaffolding matrix designs and nanopatterned signaling cues to reconstruct new 3D tissues from patients' own stem cells. He has published work in several prestigious academic journals including Tissue Engineering, Stem Cells & Development, Journal of Tissue Engineering, Journal of Neural Engineering, Neural Regeneration Research, and Brain Research, which works have been highly cited by many hundreds of scientists around the world, and he also co-authored the stem cell & tissue engineering textbook Organoids and Mini-Organs (Elsevier Academic Press, University of Edinburgh). He is one of the only doctors in the world who has both neurosurgical and orthopedic surgery training while also making significant research advancements in 3D image-guided stem cell patching and tissue engineering for minimally-invasive applications in joint, cartilage, bone, ligament, tendon, disc, nerve, and spine injuries.

Copyright ©️ 2025 ASOI

$A snapshot of a very unique case of a pars fracture patient who had already undergone buck screws (aka direct pars screw...$

12/08/2025

A snapshot of a very unique case of a pars fracture patient who had already undergone buck screws (aka direct pars screw repair) at a very well-known prestigious hospital system, but the screws had eroded the bone causing bony lucency and loosening around the screws (which can often eventually happen in these cases with small screws in thin bone especially in young athletes). This young patient had excruciating unresolved pain and their surgeon only gave the option of replacing the screws with a full fusion, which they did not want to do. They asked if we could do the stem cell matrix patching procedure around the screws, and we stated many reasons that it might fail but they still wanted to try. Dr. McMurtrey said it was actually a beautiful procedure testing 3D skills to find the thin empty cystic erosions around the loose screws, which he was able to fill perfectly, as well as patching the facet joints above and below the screws.

In this case the patient returned to us for imaging on our 3D cone-beam scanner which has radiation-minimization protocols, metal-artefact reduction, and ultra-high resolution slice production, which showed good filling of the erosive bone defects. The patient said she had no more pain and the parents wrote the following review:

“After years of visits for our daughter with multiple specialists and even a failed back surgery (with screws placed in her spine), we finally found Dr. McMurtrey…. Since his procedure, our daughter has experienced a dramatic turnaround. For the first time in five years, she is completely pain-free, and she has regained the ability to be active — something we never expected back then. Dr. McMurtrey’s knowledge, professionalism, and compassion stood out from the start. He took the time to explain everything clearly, answered all our questions, and made us feel confident and our daughter cared for throughout the process. His expertise in stem cell treatment is second to none. We are beyond grateful to Dr. McMurtrey and the team at Alpine Spine & Orthopedics. He gave our daughter a chance at a normal, pain-free life again — something we thought might never happen. We are forever thankful!"

12/08/2025

Every day we see complex, fascinating, and unique cases that each take an incredible amount of time, knowledge, and attention to detail. Over the Thanksgiving break we received follow-up imaging from 3 pars patching patients, each of them unique in several ways. There are hundreds of variables involved in each patient, hundreds of variables in each procedure, and hundreds of variables in each patch design which can be tweaked with the stem cell concentration, scaffolding densities (fibrin/collagen/bone graft), and signaling factors combinations.

Impressively all 3 of these patients had clear evidence of repair occurring on MRI & CT as well as no symptoms of pain even with activity. One is a child of an orthopedic surgeon. In most cases a trocar is used to pe*****te cortical surfaces depending on the nature of the fracture and bone quality, and here a clear ossification can be seen around 4 months post-op even though there is only partial bridging with a portion of the defects still visible with ongoing active remodeling. All fractures in any bone will have fibrotic scarring and defects that can be seen for many years after the fracture, so it will never look brand new, but the point is to get bridging and stability of the fracture as well as reinforcement and repair of discs, facets, ligaments, and nerves. Patients may choose to get follow-up imaging with MRI and/or CT: the MRI is better at showing discs, nerves, facets, cartilage, ligaments, and the state of the stem cell patches as they form new connective tissue bridging; however, the MRI is not ideal for looking at details of bone/calcification/fractures whereas CT is better at showing the detailed shape of the fracture and the latter stages of ossification. The Stem Cell + PRF autograft patching procedure recapitulates the natural mechanisms of tissue repair utilizing bone marrow stem cells with sticky biomaterial scaffolding matrix & minimally-invasive 3D image-guidance to bridge, repair, patch, reinforce, and rebuild tissue.

Copyright ©️ 2025 ASOI

$Another patient who came in with chronic back pain and an MRI where the radiologist had not noticed the pars fractures n...$

12/08/2025

Another patient who came in with chronic back pain and an MRI where the radiologist had not noticed the pars fractures nor the Bertolotti’s syndrome, but Dr. McMurtrey noticed it at first glance. As with all our older patients with long-term pars fractures, the chances of complete repair and resolution are lower for numerous reasons, including increasing fracture gap over time, increased instability, additional strain on the disc, facets, and ligaments over time, degenerative and sclerotic changes in the bone, as well as with anatomic anomalies and so on. Yet we have seen numerous cases of healing even with older age chronic pars fractures where the stem cell patches gave new life and new healing (this was our 3rd patient over age 60 to have successful pars fracture repair). The bone is probed and if needed pe*****ted with trocar to enable bridging through cortical surfaces. Even in cases where full ossification does not occur, it can still stabilize the fracture with connective tissue patching and also help discs, facets, ligaments, and adjacent tissues (which can be targeted in detail depending on your imaging findings and specific injuries). Physical therapy is also important in this healing process which is why we give specific instructions to every patient to protect neutral spine positioning while also working on engaging core muscles with isometric core exercises and no impact loading during healing. The Stem Cell + PRF autograft patching procedure recapitulates the natural mechanisms of fracture repair utilizing bone marrow stem cells with sticky biomaterial scaffolding matrix and minimally-invasive 3D image-guidance.

Copyright ©️ 2025 ASOI

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