Dr. Justin Esterberg
Orthopedic Spine Surgery
Seattle, WA
25 years experience male
Locations
Orthopedic Physicians Associates
Seattle, WA
My office hours
Wednesday: 8:00am - 5:00pm
Show morePhone
Practice website
Insurances accepted
Aetna
BlueCross BlueShield
Cigna
First Choice Health
Great West Healthcare
Labor & Industries
Medicare
No Value
PacifiCare
Regence
SecureHorizons
Uniform Medical Plan
Great Lakes Health Plan
Workers Compensation
Office
Seattle, WA
About
Bio
Dr. Esterberg’s goal as your doctor is to help you identify what is causing your symptoms, learn about that problem, and then discuss with you the types of treatment that could benefit you. He is focused on you and how your particular issue is affecting your everyday activities. Both you and he will explore the nonsurgical and surgical options available to you. If a surgical option is chosen, then his goal would be to utilize the least invasive techniques that can help you get back to your everyday activities as soon as possible. In his spare time, Dr. Esterberg enjoys the city of Seattle and likes to explore his environment. He likes to do just about any sport that involves the mountains or the water - alpine skiing in particular. Since he was raised in Minnesota, ice hockey is his favorite sport and he continues to play, despite the lack of ice here in Seattle.
Please read Dr. Esterberg's biography .
SpecialtiesDoctors may have more than one area of specialty interest. Board certification in a specialty area means the doctor has completed formal training and has practice experience in that specialty, and has passed the certification examination from the corresponding accredited medical specialty board.
Doctors may have more than one area of specialty interest. Board certification in a specialty area means the doctor has completed formal training and has practice experience in that specialty, and has passed the certification examination from the corresponding accredited medical specialty board.
Orthopedic Spine Surgery
Orthopedic Surgery
Doctor Q&A
106 Answers
47 Agrees
The number of answers this doctor has agreed with.
A 55-year-old female asked:
Dr. Justin Esterberganswered
Orthopedic Spine Surgery 25 years experience
Exercise: Routine low impact aerobic exercise can reduce your overall pain (i.e. Walking cycling swimming) i would check with your primary doctor as well. P... Read More
5.2k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 31-year-old female asked:
Dr. Justin Esterberganswered
Orthopedic Spine Surgery 25 years experience
Go to ER: If you haven't already been seen, i would go to the er and be evaluated for these symptoms.
5.2k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
A 39-year-old member asked:
Dr. Justin Esterberganswered
Orthopedic Spine Surgery 25 years experience
No: Disc desiccation is a natural process of aging, unfortunately. No relationship to body temperature
5.2k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
A 24-year-old female asked:
Dr. Justin Esterberganswered
Orthopedic Spine Surgery 25 years experience
Pain: Try taking some antiinflammatories like ibuprofen. Rest it a bit. If the pain doesn't subside enough to get up and walk, you should see a physician... Read More
5.2k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 75-year-old male asked:
Dr. Justin Esterberganswered
Orthopedic Spine Surgery 25 years experience
Pain: Sometimes people continue to have sciatica pain because the screws have loosened or an infection has developed. Sometimes it just takes a long time f... Read More
5.2k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
A 49-year-old member asked:
Dr. Justin Esterberganswered
Orthopedic Spine Surgery 25 years experience
Exercise: Low impact exercise such as swimming , cycling , elliptical trainers on a regular basis can be helpful for arthritic joints. Aqua/pool aerobics is a ... Read More
5.2k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
A 41-year-old member asked:
Dr. Justin Esterberganswered
Orthopedic Spine Surgery 25 years experience
Pain: Try taking some antiinflammatories like Ibuprofen unless you have a history of ulcers or kidney disease. Rest it a bit. If the pain doesn't subside ... Read More
5.2k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 30-year-old female asked:
Dr. Justin Esterberganswered
Orthopedic Spine Surgery 25 years experience
Neck: You may have a new problem in your neck. Check back again with your spine surgeon. Sorry to hear you are having that.
5.2k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
A 32-year-old male asked:
Dr. Justin Esterberganswered
Orthopedic Spine Surgery 25 years experience
Exercise: Routine low impact aerobic exercise can reduce your overall pain (i.e. Walking cycling swimming) i would check with your primary doctor as well. P... Read More
5.2k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 81-year-old female asked:
Dr. Justin Esterberganswered
Orthopedic Spine Surgery 25 years experience
Thigh pain: After fusion can be multifactorial. It can be due to nerve irritation along the front of the thigh, nerve irritation after decompression, hip flexor ... Read More
5.2k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
A 25-year-old male asked:
Dr. Justin Esterberganswered
Orthopedic Spine Surgery 25 years experience
If no pain...no: If your symptoms are minimal or nonexistent at this point, you do not need surgery. The fact that you had cauda equina syndrome indicates that the pr... Read More
5.4k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
A 46-year-old male asked:
Dr. Justin Esterberganswered
Orthopedic Spine Surgery 25 years experience
Blood pressure: As long as the blood pressure is under control well before surgery, it is not a contraindication to having surgery . If you do have high blood pressu... Read More
5.4k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
A female asked:
Dr. Justin Esterberganswered
Orthopedic Spine Surgery 25 years experience
Go to the ER: Assuming you did not injury the ankle. This could indicate an infection of the ankle. It is advised to go to the er and be evaluated and they can de... Read More
5.4k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 39-year-old member asked:
Dr. Justin Esterberganswered
Orthopedic Spine Surgery 25 years experience
Several treatments: Coccyx pain is mainly treated with ice, antiinflammatories such as ibuprofen, and to take pressure off the coccyx by using a donut shaped cushion... T... Read More
5.4k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
A 22-year-old female asked:
Dr. Justin Esterberganswered
Orthopedic Spine Surgery 25 years experience
Side effect: No special side effects because of the ankylosing spondylitis.
5.3k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
A female asked:
Dr. Justin Esterberganswered
Orthopedic Spine Surgery 25 years experience
Congenital : Congenital scoliosis is typically treated in childhood. This really depends on the underlying reason for the scoliosis, how old your child is, and the... Read More
5.3k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
A 41-year-old member asked:
Dr. Justin Esterberganswered
Orthopedic Spine Surgery 25 years experience
Pain: Sometimes people can have pain because the screws have loosened or an infection has developed. Sometimes it just takes a long time for the pain to di... Read More
5.3k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
A 65-year-old female asked:
Dr. Justin Esterberganswered
Orthopedic Spine Surgery 25 years experience
Depends on pain: Most disc herniations heal with time. Depending on pain levels, medications like antiinflammatories and muscle relaxers are often helpful. If there ... Read More
5.3k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
A 28-year-old male asked:
Dr. Justin Esterberganswered
Orthopedic Spine Surgery 25 years experience
Several : Low back, buttock and "shooting" leg pain are all symptoms of a pinched nerve. It sounds like you may have that problem. If the pain is severe and l... Read More
5.2k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
A 18-year-old male asked:
Dr. Justin Esterberganswered
Orthopedic Spine Surgery 25 years experience
P 90x: Used this one personally and know several others who did... Good overall workouts for low cost and easy to do at home and save the dollars of an expe... Read More
5.2k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
A 37-year-old member asked:
Dr. Justin Esterberganswered
Orthopedic Spine Surgery 25 years experience
Diet/exercise: Best thing to prevent osteoporosis is routine exercise... Many calcium supplements out there...Find one with vitamin d. Dietary calcium with dairy p... Read More
5.2k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
A 46-year-old member asked:
Dr. Justin Esterberganswered
Orthopedic Spine Surgery 25 years experience
Sciatica: Low back, buttock and "shooting" leg pain are all symptoms of a pinched nerve. It sounds like you may have that problem. If the pain is severe and l... Read More
5.2k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
A 27-year-old member asked:
Dr. Justin Esterberganswered
Orthopedic Spine Surgery 25 years experience
Close quarters: A lot of meningitis outbreaks occur in settings where people are in close contact ie. Schools, nightclubs etc....
5.2k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 38-year-old member asked:
Dr. Justin Esterberganswered
Orthopedic Spine Surgery 25 years experience
About 6 wks: A fractured finger usually takes about 6 wks for the bone to heal. If the fracture involves the knuckle or joint, pain can persist because the joint ... Read More
5.4k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
A 35-year-old member asked:
Dr. Justin Esterberganswered
Orthopedic Spine Surgery 25 years experience
Disc: The indications for surgery depend on the patients pain level, pattern of pain, time dealing with the problem, treatments attempted etc. A lot if pe... Read More
5.4k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
A 52-year-old female asked:
Dr. Justin Esterberganswered
Orthopedic Spine Surgery 25 years experience
Stenosis: Those symptoms you describe can result from spondylolisthesis and stenosis. There are several treatments for these issues ranging from nonsurgical to... Read More
5.4k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 38-year-old member asked:
Dr. Justin Esterberganswered
Orthopedic Spine Surgery 25 years experience
Multiple: Depending on the amount of pain being experienced, an antiinflammatory such as Ibuprofen (advil) can be used. A stronger antiinflammatory such as ste... Read More
5.4k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 40-year-old member asked:
Dr. Justin Esterberganswered
Orthopedic Spine Surgery 25 years experience
Yes: Cervical spine trauma can cause leg weakness because the spinal cord travels through the cervical spine. If a fracture or dislocation of a bone in th... Read More
5.4k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
A 38-year-old female asked:
A 30-year-old female asked:
Dr. Justin Esterberganswered
Orthopedic Spine Surgery 25 years experience
Symptoms: It is all based on current symptoms and function...Pain and ability to walk, and perform job functions. If you have no or minimal pain and can do you... Read More
5.2k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 40-year-old male asked:
Dr. Justin Esterberganswered
Orthopedic Spine Surgery 25 years experience
Sciatica: Low back, buttock and "shooting" leg pain are all symptoms of a pinched nerve. It sounds like you may have that problem. If the pain is severe and l... Read More
5.2k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
A 37-year-old member asked:
Dr. Justin Esterberganswered
Orthopedic Spine Surgery 25 years experience
Depends on pain: Depending on pain levels and individual results will vary. If no pain there is no specific treatment that will reverse a bulging disc. It is best to... Read More
5.2k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
A 27-year-old female asked:
Dr. Justin Esterberganswered
Orthopedic Spine Surgery 25 years experience
Exercise: Nothing compares to routine exercise and eating healthy. Avoid gimmicks like these pills. They can cause other health issuesandhabe interactions wit... Read More
5.2k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
A 55-year-old female asked:
Dr. Justin Esterberganswered
Orthopedic Spine Surgery 25 years experience
NWB: No weight is placed through that leg or arm.
5.4k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
A 31-year-old member asked:
Dr. Justin Esterberganswered
Orthopedic Spine Surgery 25 years experience
Your decision: Surgery is needed when someone has intractable pain related to a disc protrusion or disc herniation. The symptoms related to a disc issue such as the... Read More
5.2k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
A 18-year-old female asked:
Dr. Justin Esterberganswered
Orthopedic Spine Surgery 25 years experience
Several treatments: There are several treatments for spondylolisthesis ranging from observation to surgery. If there is no pain or the pain does not limit your activitie... Read More
5.4k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 31-year-old member asked:
Dr. Justin Esterberganswered
Orthopedic Spine Surgery 25 years experience
See spine MD: I recommend that you see a spine md prior to seeing a chiropractor. Presumably the stenosis was seen on an MRI you had of your cervical spine. Certa... Read More
5.4k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A male asked:
Dr. Justin Esterberganswered
Orthopedic Spine Surgery 25 years experience
Sciatica: Low back, buttock and "shooting" leg pain are all symptoms of a pinched nerve. It sounds like you may have that problem. If the pain is severe and l... Read More
5.2k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
A 30-year-old male asked:
Dr. Justin Esterberganswered
Orthopedic Spine Surgery 25 years experience
Yes : Pain running down the back into the buttock or legs maybe from pinched nerves in the low back, particularly the l4-5 or l5-s1 disc levels. Sounds li... Read More
5.4k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
A 31-year-old female asked:
Dr. Justin Esterberganswered
Orthopedic Spine Surgery 25 years experience
Nerve : Sounds like it could be a pinched nerve in your lower neck. Typically these will get better on their own. You can try icing, antiinflammatories and... Read More
5.4k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
A 38-year-old member asked:
Dr. Justin Esterberganswered
Orthopedic Spine Surgery 25 years experience
Pull: Literally means pulling on your spine in a way to temporarily lengthen your spine. There are several tables/ machines that do this, inversion tables ... Read More
5.2k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 24-year-old member asked:
Dr. Justin Esterberganswered
Orthopedic Spine Surgery 25 years experience
Unlikely: It takes a lot of tissue damage to dislocate any joint. The ligaments and joint capsules typically need to be torn for a joint to dislocate and this ... Read More
5.4k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 33-year-old member asked:
Dr. Justin Esterberganswered
Orthopedic Spine Surgery 25 years experience
Ibuprofen, Naproxen: The over the counter antiinflammatories are ibuprofen(advil) and Naproxen (aleve). It depends on each person but these are the most commonly used/pr... Read More
5.4k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
A 52-year-old member asked:
Dr. Justin Esterberganswered
Orthopedic Spine Surgery 25 years experience
Back pain: Most common cause is muscle strain (pulled muscles). There are several other spine related causes such as disc herniation and arthritis. Non spine c... Read More
5.2k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
A 48-year-old member asked:
Dr. Justin Esterberganswered
Orthopedic Spine Surgery 25 years experience
Xrays: Xrays can make the diagnosis of spondylolisthesis. Xrays can show the relationships of the vertebrae (bones) in your spine and determine if one is sl... Read More
5.4k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 38-year-old member asked:
Dr. Justin Esterberganswered
Orthopedic Spine Surgery 25 years experience
Fusion: Fusion for the back can be helpful in certain situations. A thorough evaluation, including review of treatments attempted and formal imaging studies ... Read More
5.2k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
A 43-year-old member asked:
Dr. Justin Esterberganswered
Orthopedic Spine Surgery 25 years experience
May be spine: Could be a disc protrusion or herniation. You should see a spine physician. An MRI of your lumbar spine would help rule out nerve entrapment from a ... Read More
5.2k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A female asked:
Dr. Justin Esterberganswered
Orthopedic Spine Surgery 25 years experience
Surgery: Septic joints require surgery to wash out the infection. It is helpful postoperatively to brace the ankle, whether it is a plaster splint or boot fo... Read More
5.4k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 25-year-old female asked:
Dr. Justin Esterberganswered
Orthopedic Spine Surgery 25 years experience
No: Residual muscle weakness can take a long time to resolve, even 12 months or longer. Epidural injections are sometimes helpful for pain, not for resid... Read More
5.4k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 38-year-old member asked:
Dr. Justin Esterberganswered
Orthopedic Spine Surgery 25 years experience
Scoliosis: Treatments for scoliosis range from observation to surgery. Physiotherapy can be helpful to work on core strengthening. Antiinflammatories can somet... Read More
5.4k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
90,000 U.S. doctors in 147 specialties are here to answer your questions, provide medical advice, write prescriptions, and more.
TestimonialsRecommendations and Thank you notes are endorsements given from patients or other doctors.
Recommendations and Thank you notes are endorsements given from patients or other doctors.
33
Recommendations
220
Thank you notes
Nov 27, 2012
I was the spine surgeon who originally recruited Justin Esterberg to Seattle. Every reference I called was stellar regarding his clinical judgment, surgical expertise, and ease of working with his pe...Read More
Nov 27, 2012
I have worked with Dr. Esterberg on both elective spinal surgery cases involving the cervical, thoracic, and lumbar spine, as well as spinal trauma. I can attest to his surgical skills which are impec...Read More
Jun 9, 2013
Dr. Esterberg is a well trained bright and capable spine surgeon. Any patient under his care would greatly benefit. He is conservative in his approach to treatment, thoughtful in surgical planning, an...Read More
HealthTap member
Thank you, your answer or tip was very helpful! I have seen a Dr twice in less that a month and got same answer but they barely examin me its like they want to get rid of me
HealthTap member
I had hip x-rays done and they said I'm still not done growing,my thoracic part of my spine is under my muscle could this mean its twisted?
HealthTap member
Thank you, your answer or tip was very helpful! I've been to 5 they won't touch it.I think think they don't want to another's mistake :(
Education & Training
Medical/Graduate school
University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis
Graduated 2002MD
Medical/Graduate school
University of St. Thomas
Graduated 1997MD
Residency
University of Minnesota Medical Center, Fairview
Residency
University of Minnesota Medical Center, Fairview
Awards
Emerging Leaders Program, American Orthopaedic Association
Top Orthopedic Spine Surgeon , First Place, Washington - Winter
2013
HealthTap Founding Doctor
Affiliations
American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery
American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons
King County Medical Society
Publications
Comparison of lordosis outcomes: ALIF vs TLIF vs posterolateral instrumeted fusion
Identification Particles and System and Method for Retrospective Identification Using Spectral Codes
An analysis of an anatomic posterolateral knee reconstruction: An in vitro biomechanical study and development of a surgical technique.
90,000 U.S. doctors in 147 specialties are here to answer your questions, provide medical advice, write prescriptions, and more.
Answer emailed
in 24 hours or less