When you’re dealing with the intense physical pain of a musculoskeletal injury or chronic spine condition, it can be hard to know where to turn. Oftentimes, these injuries are difficult to diagnose and even the most robust pain management treatments only offer temporary relief. While surgery is sometimes an option, it also comes with its own set of further complications and risk factors.
Fortunately for the active community of Durango, Colorado—the team at Spine Colorado offers much more than vague diagnoses and generic pain medication. With a diverse cohort of board-certified physiatrists, orthopedic specialists, and surgeons, Spine Colorado is the region’s leading medical provider when it comes to diagnosing and treating spine-related conditions and injuries. The best part? They always strive for non-invasive treatments before turning to surgery.
As one of its newest providers, Dr. Brandon Messerli D.O. brings a unique perspective to his treatment plans and prioritizes noninvasive treatments for all patients, further advancing Spine Colorado’s commitment to patient-centered care.
Making the move to Durango
Brandon Messerli was born and raised in Minnesota but has lived all over—having obtained his medical degree from the Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine before moving to Seattle for a residency in Rehabilitation Medicine at the University of Washington. He lived and practiced orthopedic medicine in Seattle for 15 years before making the move to Durango nearly two years ago.
“My family and I are very active and we love the outdoors—so it was natural for us to look in this area of the Rocky Mountains,” he says. “But what we really fell in love with was the strong sense of community in Durango.”
Caring for the athletic and outdoorsy community of the Four Corners region has also been one of his favorite parts of the transition.
“It’s been amazing getting to know other local providers and having this sense that we’re really acting as a whole to take care of our patients. That's something that gets lost in a big city where there are hundreds of doctors and millions of patients.”
Messerli is an active member of the International Pain & Spine Intervention Society and holds dual board certifications in Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation (PM&R) and Sports Medicine.
But his caring demeanor and natural bedside manner isn’t something he picked up in med school. From a young age, Messerli was given a front-row seat to the kinds of injuries and pain he would end up devoting his life’s work to.
The diagnosis that created the doctor
Messerli has always led an active lifestyle, even with a family history of spine conditions and injuries. “My mother had about 12 orthopedic surgeries between the time I was in elementary and middle school, and my sister had both knees and hips replaced by the age of 35. I learned a lot helping my mom through her surgeries,” he says.
Messerli’s experience with the genetic condition that he shares with his mother and sister wasn’t much better. After experiencing intense hip pain while playing soccer and golf in high school, he was diagnosed with severe arthritis at just 14 years old. He ended up getting both hips replaced by the age of 20.
“Once I had my hips replaced I immediately became very active again, to the point of even doing triathlons, but I was suffering from lots of back pain,” he says. Despite visiting multiple orthopedic surgeons, Messerli found he wasn’t able to get a clear diagnosis for his pain or any solid treatment recommendations.
“It wasn’t until I got into med school and finally learned about the complex anatomy and kinetics of the spine, that I discovered the cause of my back pain.”
Messerli found that he had something called Sacroiliac joint dysfunction, a condition that he often treats his patients for today.
“It was ultimately caused by a leg length discrepancy that created asymmetry in the area,” he says. “Once I learned that, it was really just a matter of a few months of specific exercises and the pain went away. It hasn’t bothered me again in 20 years.”
Helping patients avoid surgery
After experiencing first-hand the kind of transformation non-invasive treatments can provide, Dr. Messerli became devoted to the study of helping others with similarly painful and often elusive spine conditions.
In addition to med school, he underwent four years of specialty training to become a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine with board certifications in Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation (PM&R) and Sports Medicine.
“We’re kind of the generalists for musculoskeletal care, and we’re a great first stop for patients trying to understand what their options are.”
Training in these specialties encompasses aspects of orthopedics, neurology, and physical therapy, and allows Messerli to form treatment plans for patients with nearly any musculoskeletal injury.
“In some specialties, the training becomes focused on one particular joint or region of the body, for example how some orthopedic surgeons focus on just the hip or the knee. But when patients present with more complex problems involving multiple joints and areas of the body—my training and experience has given me a broad range of knowledge to figure out those cases.”
But probably the most promising aspect of Messerli’s medical philosophy is the way in which he is advancing Spine Colorado’s commitment to noninvasive treatment.
“In training, I realized that about 85-90% of musculoskeletal and spine conditions are not surgical conditions—meaning, they never need or benefit from surgery. And I decided early on I wanted to benefit those 90% of people.”
Healing the underlying cause of pain
When first meeting patients, Dr. Messerli always prioritizes meticulous intake meetings and exams.
“Unfortunately, in some places, medicine has turned into checklist medicine,” he says. “But it’s so important to keep care personalized because although there are patterns leading to certain injuries, every single person’s pattern is different from the next.”
Because of his combined personal and professional experience with debilitating musculoskeletal injuries and rehab, Messerli always strives to come up with patient care plans that involve balancing fast relief and pain management with strategies for addressing the underlying cause of that pain.
“My first goal is for pain reduction strategies to get patients back on their feet as quickly as possible. But I've also learned that most acute injuries have an underlying risk factor, and there’s often a reason that injury happened at that time and on that side of the body.”
Messerli sees his job as getting to the bottom of these injuries so that they can properly heal and cease being a problem for his patients.
“I look at the entire kinetic chain—because it could be a hip problem causing your back pain. And while we could just focus on getting pain resolved, I think the most important thing is to discover what the underlying problem is so that the injury heals and doesn’t bother you again.”
A surgical team that prioritizes noninvasive treatment
Beyond personalized exams, Messerli also has several tools in his kit to ensure his patients at Spine Colorado start seeing results as quickly as possible. The first of these is something called interventional spine.
“Interventional spine involves spinal injections which can relieve both acute and chronic neck and back pain. It's been pretty remarkable seeing people come in with severe pain and after one injection that takes only a few minutes they’re back on their feet again.”
Another effective and time-saving protocol offered at Spine Colorado is diagnostic ultrasound.
“Diagnostic ultrasound is a really neat point-of-care tool that's become available in the last 20 years.”
By point-of-care, Messerli means that he can offer this diagnostic treatment to patients as soon as their first visit—without the need for hoop jumping and scheduling out imaging elsewhere.
“As I’m meeting a patient I can grab the ultrasound and get live results to have a targeted plan on what to do. This offers an alternative to MRIs, which are far more expensive and you run into issues with scheduling and prior authorization, as well as follow-up visits to discuss results.”
Armed with these tools, Dr. Messerli finds that he’s able to offer much more effective care to his Durango client base, and get them feeling better and on the path to recovery much quicker. But it isn't just the fancy technology that makes this possible. It’s also the fact that Spine Colorado has a broad range of spine specialists in-house, including world-class surgeons.
“I see it as a benefit that some of us aren’t surgeons, in that we really try to come up with the most precise diagnoses and nonsurgical treatment plans. But when surgery is needed, I’m able to get patients to the best possible surgeon for their needs. It’s also helpful to work side-by-side with our surgeons because it allows for more thorough conversations about patient cases and needs.”
Advocating for patient coverage
Beyond his work in the field of osteopathic medicine, Dr. Messerli has also been an active member of several national organizations, including the International Pain & Spine Intervention Society (IPSIS). For the last decade or so, he’s been teaching courses and heavily involved in various committees that advocate for better patient coverage by insurance companies. In some cases this has included fighting initiatives on both the federal and state level.
“The insurance industry is trying to cut costs and they do this by having coverage policies that reduce the ability to get care. Some of that care is obviously needed, and so we need advocates to push back against insurance companies and have them own up to what they should be paying for.”
Out of office, on the trails
Outside the office, you’ll likely find Messerli doing a lot of the same activities Durango is known for—like skiing and mountain biking.
“I’m an avid mountain biker and one of my favorite rides is coming down from Kennebec Pass on the Colorado Trail. For high country rides getting out to Molas and Engineer is fantastic.”
In Seattle, Messerli explains that it was hard for him to make it out onto the trails, so he’d instead spend his time road biking. Because of the prolific availability of trails in Durango, he nearly gave up road biking here altogether.
“But this year I was able to rekindle it and do the Iron Horse classic—I just beat the snow, which I think I'm more proud of than beating the train. It’s something I think I’ll continue to do every year. Next summer, I might even look into doing the Durango Derby ride and if I can commandeer enough friends, maybe we’ll even do the Valkyrie.”
We’re excited to have Dr. Brandon Messerli join the Spine Colorado team, bringing his expertise in noninvasive treatments and patient-centered care to our community. If you're dealing with musculoskeletal pain or spine-related issues, schedule an appointment today.