We speak to Todd Lanman, a spinal neurosurgeon and specialist in the advancement of spinal health and innovator in motion preservation surgery for more than 25 years. Todd is based in Beverly Hills and is the founder of Lanman Spinal Neurosurgery
In many ways, the spine is the root of one’s health. It can direct an individual’s entire quality of life, mobility and ultimately one’s level of happiness.
As world-renowned Beverly Hills spinal neurosurgeon and leading artificial disc replacement and motion preservation innovator Dr. Todd Lanman of Lanman Spinal Neurosurgery believes, without a healthy spine, there is no healthy life. As he decrees, movement is life.
Dr Lanman is a doctor who takes his own medicine. Following his own experiences undergoing a number of spinal surgeries himself, Dr Lanman combined this firsthand knowledge with his fundamental understanding of spinal health to devote his career to helping others to live pain-free lives and restore their mobility. As a specialist in the advancement of spinal health and spine surgery for more than 25 years, his attention to guaranteeing his patients the utmost in compassionate and skilled care under his watchful eye and steady hand has earned him top honours, his patients’ trust and respect, and recently in being named one of the Top Doctors in America.
In 2018, Southern California’s leading business publication, the Los Angeles Business Journal, recognised him for his nearly three decades of advancement in spine care and motion preservation, presenting him with the esteemed title of a ‘Leader in Health Care’ at their annual Health Care Leadership Forum and Awards.
As one of LA’s Top Doctors by The Hollywood Reporter and the Los Angeles Times, Dr Lanman is the go-to spinal neurosurgeon for many of Hollywood’s biggest stars, including A-list film and TV talent, legendary musicians, and other expert luminaries.
A Diplomate of the American Board of Neurological Surgery and a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, Dr Lanman earned his MD at Chicago’s Northwestern University in 1983 with top honours and went on to complete his residency in Neurological Surgery at University of California at Los Angeles, under Drs W Eugene Stern and Donald Becker in 1989. Since then, he has led his spinal neurosurgery practice in the heart of Beverly Hills, which is affiliated with Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and UCLA Medical Center.
Dr Lanman has published nearly a dozen peer-reviewed articles, as well as authored chapters on topics relating to neurological surgery, and has presented more than two-dozen papers at national and regional medical society meetings. His expertise is sought out as he is often tapped to lead a wide swath of clinical trials for motion preserving surgeries and artificial disc replacement devices.
Most recently, Dr Lanman made history in the world of spine care advancement when he presided over the seven-year clinical trial for the newly FDA-approved two-level artificial cervical disc replacement procedure as its principal investigator, studying Medtronic’s Prestige LP device. He subsequently published the seven-year paper comparing cervical artificial disc replacement to fusion, and finding that the artificial disc replacement procedure in two adjacent cervical discs was statistically superior to that of fusion.
He has also remained an assistant clinical professor at UCLA for the past 20 years. As a media educator, Dr Lanman frequently appears on mainstream media outlets, such as CBS’ The Doctors and on network news stations in and around Los Angeles, to share with viewers ways in which they can protect their spines from injury, and leads the way in educating viewers about advances in spinal surgery, such as artificial disc replacement.
Through his proprietary 4D Health Process, Dr Lanman helps patients to think about their health in a more comprehensive and holistic way. He does this by going beyond the standard three-dimensional approach, incorporating all factors of one’s lifestyle to map out an entire preventative and forward-thinking approach to aging management, ensuring all of his patients live active healthy lives as they age. This includes several factors such as age, nutrition, hormone status, inflammatory and immune responses, exercise routine, and spine and joint health. By way of his meticulous analysis of each person’s body and lifestyle, he uses his decades of knowledge to shift the paradigm for how we view healthy living and aging through his new methodology.
SSN: As a specialist in spine surgery, could you tell us more about your experience and training background in this field?
TL: I have been board-c