@annie1 The osteoporosis is a game changer. That may limit surgical options that depend on screws to hold an implant in place because of bone quality. Some surgeons require patients to go on a bone building treatment before doing spine surgery.

I am not familiar with Castle Connolly. I did look up anything I could about any surgeon I wanted to see. Some good resources are US News and World Report, Becker's Spine Review, Medicare ratings of surgeons (but it only applies IF the surgeon has done enough Medicare cases to merit a rating). I also look for any videos from the surgeon or medical papers and I read them. You can also just look up medical research about a condition in respected journals and look to see who the authors are which shows their medical center affiliation. There are also a lot of other medical literature listed in the credits with other names of authors. That takes a long time to do, but you can find experts in the field this way. Good surgeons are teaching at medical spine surgery conferences and sometimes you can access videos from those, or at least find the conference list of who the presenters are. Your physician may be able to help you find good surgeon. Also good physical therapists know because they rehab patients after surgery. I don't give much merit to online patient reviews because many patients have unrealistic expectations and express their dissatisfaction when things don't go their way.

Jennifer