Sciatica
- You feel
- Sharp pain down one leg, often with a numb or tingling foot.
- Without surgery
- Most settle within about three months.
- Surgery
- Microdiscectomy removes the fragment. Sooner if the leg is weakening or bladder control changes.
Orthopaedic spine surgeon · Yakima, Washington
Steady hands. Straight answers.
I'm Dr. Mohamed Al-Amoodi, a fellowship-trained orthopaedic spine surgeon and an engineer by training. I treat worn discs and pinched nerves, spinal deformity, fractures and tumors, in adults and children.
- Training
- Fellowship-trained at UCSFOrthopaedic residency at UBC, Vancouver
- Certification
- Board certified in CanadaFRCSC · Board eligible, ABOS (United States)
- Languages
- English · Français · العربيةSpanish with an interpreter
- Seeing patients in
- Yakima, WashingtonCentral Washington and the Pacific Northwest
What I treat
Four kinds of spine problem.
Pick one to see its conditions, each shown in 3D with what I offer.
Most commonWear and tear
Herniated discs, sciatica, stenosis, slipped vertebrae and pinched nerves in the neck.
See conditions →
Adults and childrenDeformity
A spine that pitches you forward, kyphosis and scoliosis.
See conditions →
Urgent and plannedTrauma
Fractures of the neck and back, from falls, crashes or thin bone.
See conditions →
With your cancer teamTumor
Tumors in or around the spine, including cancer that has spread to it.
See conditions →
Training
Trained in Vancouver and San Francisco. Practicing in Yakima.
- UCSFSpine surgery fellowship
- UBCOrthopaedic surgery residency
- FRCSCBoard certified in Canada
- ABOSBoard eligible, United States
- SRSScoliosis Research Society member
- 3Languages: English, French, Arabic
2 / 6 Conditions
Find your condition.
Type what you feel or pick an area. Each one shows the problem, then the treatment.
No match. Try a body part such as “leg” or “neck”, or request a consultation and we will sort it out together.
This helps you read about a condition. It is not a diagnosis.
Spinal stenosis
- You feel
- Legs ache or go numb when you walk. Sitting or leaning forward eases it.
- Without surgery
- Therapy, medication and injections ease symptoms. The narrowing stays.
- Surgery
- Decompression opens the canal. Fusion only if the spine is unstable.
Slipped vertebra
- You feel
- Back pain on standing or walking, often with leg pain or numbness.
- Without surgery
- Strengthening and injections help many stable slips.
- Surgery
- For lasting nerve pain or an unstable slip: decompression and fusion.
Worn disc
- You feel
- A deep low-back ache, worse with sitting, bending or lifting.
- Without surgery
- Strengthening and staying active help most people.
- Surgery
- For pain clearly from one or two discs: fusion, or disc replacement in selected patients.
SI joint pain
- You feel
- One-sided low back or buttock pain, worse rising from a chair or on stairs.
- Without surgery
- Therapy, a belt and injections. An injection that relieves it confirms the source.
- Surgery
- If the pain keeps returning, the joint is fused with implants across it.
Pain after earlier surgery
- You feel
- Pain that never left after an operation, or came back later.
- Without surgery
- New imaging to find the cause. Many are treated without another operation.
- Surgery
- When there is a clear, fixable cause, such as wear next to a fusion (shown).
Pinched nerve in the neck
- You feel
- Neck pain into the shoulder, arm or hand. Numb fingers or a weaker grip.
- Without surgery
- Often improves over weeks to months.
- Surgery
- For lasting pain or weakness: fusion from the front (ACDF), or disc replacement in selected patients.
Spinal cord compression
- You feel
- Clumsy hands, dropping things, unsteady walking. Often little pain.
- Without surgery
- Mild, stable cases are watched closely. Lost function may not come back.
- Surgery
- Usually advised once symptoms are clear. The cord is decompressed from the front or the back.
Scoliosis
- You see
- Uneven shoulders or hips, a rib hump. Adults may have back and leg pain.
- Without surgery
- Regular checks, therapy, and a brace for growing children. Many never need surgery.
- Surgery
- For curves that keep growing or cause pain or imbalance.
Leaning forward
- You feel
- You pitch forward and tire quickly when standing.
- Without surgery
- Strengthening and pain control for milder cases.
- Surgery
- Realignment, sometimes with an osteotomy, when standing and walking are no longer manageable. A major operation, planned carefully.
Spine fracture
- You feel
- Sudden back or neck pain after a fall or crash, or a minor strain if bones are thin.
- Without surgery
- Stable fractures heal in a brace, with treatment for bone strength.
- Surgery
- Promptly, for unstable fractures or pressure on the cord or nerves.
Spine tumor
- You feel
- Constant or night-time back pain, or new weakness, especially with a history of cancer.
- Without surgery
- Often radiation and medication, planned with your oncology team.
- Surgery
- When the spine is unstable or the cord is compressed.
3 / 6 Treatments
What I offer.
Surgery of the whole spine, for wear and tear, deformity, trauma and tumors.
Decompression
For pinched nerves and a squeezed spinal cord.
- Microdiscectomy
- Laminectomy and laminotomy
- Cervical decompression, front or back
- Thoracic endoscopic decompression
Fusion
For an unstable, slipped or worn-out level.
- Neck fusion from the front ACDF
- Fusion from the back TLIF, thoracic and lumbar
- Fusion from the front ALIF
- Fusion from the side lateral and prone XLIF, OLIF
- SI joint fusion
Disc replacement
Keeps a level moving. Right for some patients, not all.
- Cervical disc replacement
- Lumbar disc replacement
Deformity correction
For flatback, kyphosis and scoliosis.
- Realignment of flatback and kyphosis
- Scoliosis correction and fusion
- Osteotomies SPO, PSO, VCR
Trauma
For fractures and dislocations at every level.
- Fracture fixation, neck to pelvis
- Decompression of the cord and nerves
- Fractures in ankylosing spondylitis
Tumor
For tumors that weaken the spine or press on the cord.
- Decompression of the spinal cord
- Stabilization with screws and rods
- Reconstruction after tumor removal
ApproachFront, side and backA 360° approach at every level of the spine.
TechniqueOpen and minimally invasiveWhichever gives the most reliable result, including tubular and endoscopic surgery.
GuidanceFreehand, navigation, roboticsTrained to place implants all three ways.
Surgery or not
Surgery when it helps. Not when it doesn't.
Some problems get better without an operation, some do better with one, and a few should not wait.
Often treated without surgery
- Most sciatica from a herniated disc
- Arm pain from a pinched nerve in the neck
- Back pain from worn discs
- Mild spinal stenosis
- Stable fractures
- Small curves that are not growing
Surgery is usually the better answer
- Weakness that is getting worse
- Pressure on the spinal cord
- Loss of bladder or bowel control
- An unstable fracture
- A tumor that weakens the spine or presses on the cord
- A curve that keeps growing
- Pain that has not improved after a fair trial of other treatment
Why timing matters. A fair trial of non-surgical care is six weeks to three months. Nerve symptoms that last longer than six months recover less, with or without surgery. A squeezed spinal cord is treated sooner.
4 / 6 About
Engineer, then surgeon.
Chemical engineering, then medicine, then spine surgery at UBC and UCSF.
I am a fellowship-trained orthopaedic spine surgeon. I treat spinal conditions in patients of all ages, with and without surgery: degenerative disc disease, spinal stenosis, deformity, trauma and tumor.
My path to spine surgery began in engineering. I earned a BSc in Chemical Engineering, Biomedical Option, with distinction from the University of Alberta, then my medical degree at the George Washington University. I completed my orthopaedic surgery residency at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, a leading quaternary spine referral centre, followed by a fellowship in spine surgery at the University of California, San Francisco.
An engineer at heart, I bring a methodical, detail-driven approach to spine care, with clear communication and shared decision-making. My goal is to help every patient return to the activities they love as safely and efficiently as possible.
- CertificationFellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Canada (FRCSC), orthopaedic surgery, 2025
- United StatesBoard eligible, American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery
- LicensePhysician and surgeon, Washington State
- MemberScoliosis Research Society
- EngineeringEngineer-in-Training, Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta
- LanguagesEnglish, French and Arabic
Orthopaedic spine surgeon
In practice in Yakima, Washington.
Spine surgery fellowship
University of California, San Francisco
Orthopaedic surgery residency
University of British Columbia, Vancouver
Doctor of Medicine
The George Washington University, Washington, DC
BSc, Chemical Engineering, Biomedical Option
University of Alberta, with distinction
Honors and awards
- 2024A donation to the VGH & UBC Hospital Foundation made in his honour
- 2017Health Services Scholarship, GWU School of Medicine and Health Sciences
- 2011BSc in Chemical Engineering with distinction, University of Alberta
- 2011Golden Key International Honour Society
- 2010DB Robinson Prize in Thermodynamics
- 2009–10Louise McKinney Post-Secondary Scholarship, two years
- 2008Talisman Engineering Undergraduate Scholarship
- 2007University of Alberta Academic Excellence Scholarship
- 2006World's top mark, Cambridge IGCSE Mathematics
5 / 6 Research and invention
Publishing, teaching, building.
My academic work and the tools I am developing.
Publications
- 2026
Anatomic Variations of the Sacrum and Lumbosacral Junction: Clinical Implications for Orthopaedic and Spine Surgeons
Al-Amoodi MJH, Theologis AA. Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. doi:10.5435/JAAOS-D-26-00142
- 2023
Unilateral laminotomy with bilateral spinal canal decompression: systematic review of outcomes and complications
Algarni N, Al-Amoodi M, Marwan Y, et al. BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders 24:904. doi:10.1186/s12891-023-07033-1
- 2019
Pulmonary Hypertension and Polycythemia Secondary to Pulmonary Alveolar Microlithiasis Treated with Sequential Bilateral Lung Transplant
Alrossais NM, Alshammari AM, Alrayes AM, Mohammad N, Al-Amoodi MJH, et al. American Journal of Case Reports 20:1114–1119. doi:10.12659/AJCR.911045
- 2018
Review of risk assessment tools to predict morbidity and mortality in elderly surgical patients
Eamer G, Al-Amoodi MJH, Holroyd-Leduc J, et al. The American Journal of Surgery 216(3):585–594. doi:10.1016/j.amjsurg.2018.04.006
Invited talks and case conferences
- 2026
Oblique lateral lumbar interbody fusion in lumbosacral transitional anatomy
Seattle Science Foundation, Interesting Spine Case Conference. Watch
- 2025
De novo flatback, posterior-only and combined approaches; sacral fracture below prior instrumentation requiring S1 pedicle subtraction osteotomy
UCSF Techniques in Complex Spine Surgery Conference, three case presentations. Watch
- 2025
Thoracolumbar fracture management
AO Spine and Seattle Science Foundation, Virtual Spine Journal Club. Watch
- 2025
Orthopaedic surgery subspecialization
Seattle Science Foundation, Virtual Spine Journal Club. Watch
- 2025
Acute distal junctional kyphosis after posterior cervical fusion
Seattle Science Foundation, Interesting Spine Case Conference. Watch
Conference abstracts (9)
- 2026
Motion Analysis in Spinal Fusion Patients
Al-Amoodi MJH, Burch S.
- 2022
Spine Injuries Secondary to Mountain Biking Accidents: a 15-year Review at a Quaternary Provincial Spine Referral Center
Al-Amoodi MJH, Laghaei P, Kahlon H, Ailon T, Charest-Morin R, Dandurand C, Paquette S, Dea N, Street J, Fisher CG, Dvorak MF, Kwon BK.
- 2021
The Effect of Sarcopenia on Early Mortality and Adverse Events After Emergent Surgery for Spinal Fractures in Patients With Ankylosing Spondylitis
Al-Amoodi MJH, Street J.
- 2018
The Association of Polymorphism RS3736228 within the LRP5 Gene with Bone Mineral Density in a Cohort of Caucasian Young Adults
Al-Amoodi MJH, Jones W, Lee D, et al., Tosi LL.
- 2018
PPARGC1A and IGF Polymorphisms Correlate with Greater Strength Performance in Healthy Young Adult Caucasian Cohorts
Miller HC, Zeller Z, Al-Amoodi MJH, et al., Tosi LL.
- 2018
Influence of Genetic Variation in SNP RS2854464 within the ACVR1B Gene on Muscle Strength in Caucasian Cohorts
Jones W, Lee D, McKenzie S, Miller HC, Zeller Z, Al-Amoodi MJH, et al., Tosi LL.
- 2018
Impact of Polymorphisms in PTK2 on Intrinsic Muscle Strength
Zeller Z, Al-Amoodi MJH, et al., Tosi LL.
- 2018
Association of Recently Described RANK and OPG Polymorphisms and Measures of Bone Quality in Young Adults
McKenzie S, Miller HC, Zeller Z, Al-Amoodi MJH, et al., Tosi LL.
- 2018
Effect of Genetic Variation in GSTP1 and AXIN1 on Bone Mineral Density in Children and Young Adults
Lee D, McKenzie S, Miller HC, Zeller Z, Al-Amoodi MJH, et al., Tosi LL.
Research positions
- Spine surgery research, UCSF 2025–2026 · Gait-lab motion analysis after adult spinal deformity surgery; sagittal alignment and hip motion reserve
- Orthopaedic surgery research, UBC 2022–2025 · Mountain-biking spine injuries with cost modelling; sarcopenia in ankylosing spondylitis fractures; decompression outcomes
- Clinical apprenticeship and research, Children's National Health System 2017–2020 · Genetics of bone density and muscle strength
Peer reviewer
- Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery
- Global Spine Journal
- Neurosurgery
- World Neurosurgery
- Journal of Orthopaedic Surgery and Research
- Journal of Shoulder and Elbow Surgery
- UCSF Techniques in Complex Spine Surgery Conference
Leadership and public health
- Clinical Public Health Summits, Washington, DC 2016–2018 · Projects on obesity in Ward 5, childhood asthma and HIV prevention
Invention
Tools I am building.
Software and devices for the operating room. Sign-in for the software will open here when each tool is ready.
Spine Physics
Reads a standing X-ray, measures the alignment of the spine and legs automatically, and models how the body balances, so a surgeon can test a correction before the operation.
Spine and Trauma CPT Finder
Type an operation and its levels, such as “L5–S1 TLIF”, and get the full code set, the work RVUs and the rules that decide what is paid. For surgeons and coders.
Open the CPT FinderSterile-field touchpad
A touchpad that can be sterilized, so the surgeon can control the screens in the operating room without leaving the sterile field. Developed through Al-Amoodi Biomedical.
6 / 6 Your visit
Request a consultation.
Ask your clinician for a referral to Dr. Mohamed Al-Amoodi, orthopaedic spine surgery, Yakima, Washington.
English · Français · العربيةAtención en español con intérprete médico.
Go to an emergency department now for
New weakness in an arm or leg, numbness around the groin, or new loss of bladder or bowel control.
Vaya a una sala de emergencias de inmediato si tiene debilidad nueva en un brazo o una pierna, adormecimiento en la ingle, o pérdida nueva del control de la vejiga o del intestino.
Can I come for a second opinion?
Yes, including after surgery that did not help.
Do you see patients from outside Yakima?
Yes, from across Central Washington and the Pacific Northwest.
Do you treat children?
Yes, for scoliosis, kyphosis and spine injuries.
Patient guides
Read before or after your visit.
The same guides I give my patients in clinic. Free to download.
For referring clinicians
Referral guide.
Adult and pediatric spine: degenerative, deformity, trauma and tumor. Languages: English, French, Arabic.
Indications for referral
- Degenerative disc disease, spinal stenosis or spondylolisthesis with persistent axial or radicular symptoms after a trial of conservative care
- Radiculopathy or myelopathy with concordant imaging
- Disc herniation with progressive neurologic deficit
- Sacroiliac joint dysfunction
- Adult spinal deformity (flatback syndrome, kyphosis, scoliosis) and pediatric deformity
- Spinal trauma, fracture or tumor
- Revision surgery and complex spinal pathology
- Ankylosing spondylitis, DISH, OPLL; congenital or acquired spinal pathology
Consider another service first
- Isolated axial neck or back pain without red flags or concordant imaging: physical therapy, activity modification, physiatry or pain management
- Appendicular complaints (shoulder, hip, knee): the appropriate orthopaedic subspecialty
- Fibromyalgia or diffuse chronic pain without structural spinal pathology: pain management or rheumatology
- Osteoporosis management alone: primary care or endocrinology
Work-up before referral
- Standing spine radiographs
- CT or MRI if already obtained or clinically indicated
- Documented conservative management for at least 6 weeks (physical therapy, NSAIDs, activity modification), unless red flags are present
- Fusion candidates: smoking cessation; optimization of HbA1c and BMI
- Bone health: DEXA and treatment as indicated; nutritional optimization before elective fusion
Emergent: send to the emergency department
- Progressive neurologic deficit
- Cauda equina syndrome: bowel or bladder dysfunction, saddle anesthesia
- Suspected spinal infection or epidural abscess
- Suspected neoplasm with cord compromise
- Unstable spinal fracture
Surgical scope
- 360° approach at all spinal levels; open and minimally invasive (tubular, endoscopic)
- Freehand, navigated and robotic instrumentation
- Cervical and lumbar disc arthroplasty
- Interbody fusion: ACDF and corpectomy; ALIF; thoracic and lumbar TLIF; lateral and prone XLIF, OLIF
- Sacroiliac joint fusion
- Deformity osteotomies: SPO, PSO, VCR