Consultant Orthopaedic Spinal Surgeon, London
Mr. John O'Dowd is a consultant orthopaedic spinal surgeon who has extensive experience diagnosing, treating and managing all types of spinal conditions and disorders.
John is in full time clinical practice in London and Hampshire as a consultant spinal surgeon and has been exclusively managing spinal conditions since 1994. His main interests are low back pain, spinal injuries, and adult spinal deformity, However he has an interest in all conditions affecting the spine and takes a unique biopsychosocial approach to treating each person.
He was the founder and director of the RealHealth Institute in London which is an evidence-based organization providing multidisciplinary assessment and treatment programmes for patients with chronic and complex spinal pain, including functional restoration and pain management programmes. He is now the clinical director of the RealHealth Institute in Holland, which is a national referral centre for non-surgical care in complex low back pain.
His research interests have led to publications and scientific presentations in relation to spinal injury, scoliosis, low back pain, non-operative spine care, spinal outcome measures, thoracoscopic and laparoscopic spinal surgery and undergraduate education.
He has been President of the Society for Back Pain Research, and is a member of the British Association of Spine Surgeons, the British Scoliosis Society, and the Spine Society of Europe.
He lectures and teaches extensively on all aspects of spinal disease. He was one of the founders of AOSpine, which has become the largest professional support and representative organisation for spinal surgeons across the World. He was their director of education worldwide, and has lectured in and chaired courses in all parts of the globe. He was President of AO in the UK, and was a Trustee of the AO Foundation. He was orthopaedic programme director for the South East circuit and continues to teach surgical skills to surgeons in training.