Sometimes philosophy can cause cognitive dissonance. Some say never look back. Some say the reason the rearview mirror is small is because it’s much more important to look forward than backward. Yet, introversion, looking back at yourself and your behavior can be painful, but still rewarding. In medicine it’s absolutely essential. After being in medicine for 50 years and involved in spine surgery for 40 years, I can say that at each juncture we always look back and thought we had a better solution than 10 or 20 years earlier. I am certain that the technology today is much more helpful and less injurious then 20 years ago. However, in my opinion, we should be humble enough to realize that we probably still don’t have the answer.#therealdrc716
