Dr Michael Hisey Talks About How Surgeons Join Athletes in the “Zone”

Spine Talk

Surgeons, such as Dr. Michael Hisey (https://texasback.com/find-a-physician/name/michael-hisey/) of Texas Back Institute, must perform at a high level every time they step into the operating room. In many cases any error – no matter how small – can be catastrophic for the patient. Plus, surgeries can take hours to complete, and it is absolutely critical that the surgeon’s intense concentration remain high throughout the procedure. As someone who is recognized internationally as one of the best in his profession, Dr. Hisey was asked if it is possible for a surgeon to get into a high-performance zone when he is operating on a patient’s spine. “I absolutely believe it is possible for a surgeon to get into this state,” he said. “In fact, it happens to me regularly. If a surgery is getting stressful and there are many things happening at once, I will notice that things seem to slow down, distractions in the room seem to go away, I am able to really focus on what I’m doing and the surgical instruments seem to move very intuitively. “It’s not always easy to start an operation in this state. You have to ‘get there’ through the procedure. In some cases, I will get into a surgery and think ‘wow, this is going to be a tough one.’ There may be lots of noise going on in the room, I’m hearing all of that and having a difficult time getting started. However, once I get started, I will tune out everything but the procedure. Everything fades into the background. It’s not that I’m unaware of everything going on. For example if the anesthesiologist says something to me, I process this information but I am not distracted by it. I simply have tunnel vision where I’m able to focus on what I’m doing.” Read the Full article at www.texasback.com/blog