Increasing leg weakness and back pain led the ambitious recreational athlete and enthusiastic triathlete from America, who currently lives in Hong Kong, to the apex spine center in Munich. After a thorough preliminary examination, a spinal canal stenosis as well as a herniated disc could be ruled out. Thanks to the new high-resolution 1.5 Tesla MRT (magnetic resonance imaging) in the apex spine center, a benign tumor (mass) in the thoracic spine area was identified as the cause of the persistent back pain and increasing leg weakness.

The tumor was removed. Mr. S. was able to successfully complete an extreme competition, an Ironman (3.8 km swimming, 180 km cycling and a marathon distance, i.e. 42.1 km running), in South Africa. The entire apex spine team congratulates and wishes many more successful sporting successes!

Dear dr Helmbrecht and Schubert;

I trust this email finds you well.

It has now been a little over two and a half years since you operated on my arachnoid cyst in Erding.

Things have gone back to normal for me and my legs seem to be almost 100%. Still fighting the residual asymmetry in my leg muscles with physiotherapy and trying to get all the smaller muscle groups around my ilium to fire. Proof is in the pudding, on April 14, I completed my first IronMan in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. 12 hours and change. That put me in the top half of my age group (50+). After all those months of grueling training, it is back to the daily grind of work. I think I have a distinct preference for the former, though...

Again, my sincere thanks for a job well done. I have been referring people to you, whenever they complain about back pain.