Season 5 of Sports ’n Torts keeps rolling with a first for the show — a medical guest. Joshua sits down with Dr. Brad Prybis, a Georgia-based orthopedic spine surgeon and former Georgia Tech tennis player, to talk about what really happens inside the body after a car or truck wreck.

Dr. Prybis shares his fascinating path from Georgia Tech engineer and touring musician to spine surgeon, explaining how his engineering background helps him understand and even design spinal implants. From there, the conversation dives into the practical medicine behind the personal-injury cases lawyers handle every day — how back and neck injuries are diagnosed, what the imaging really shows, and the step-by-step process of conservative and surgical care.

They cover everything from epidural and PRP injections to ACDF and laminectomy surgeries, plus how Dr. Prybis guides patients through fear, recovery, and the long road to maximum medical improvement. For plaintiff lawyers, this episode is a master class in understanding the medical side of spine cases — told in plain English by the doctor who actually performs the surgeries.

The second half shifts gears into sports: Georgia Tech’s football resurgence, the Agassi-era golden age of American tennis, and how being a college athlete built the discipline that drives Dr. Prybis’s medical career today.

🩺 Episode Highlights

🏥 From Tennis to the Operating Room

• Dr. Prybis’s journey: Georgia Tech tennis star → mechanical engineer → orthopedic spine surgeon
• How engineering knowledge directly applies to spinal surgery and implant design

🧠 Crash-Related Spine Injuries

• How car and truck wrecks can aggravate or accelerate pre-existing spine degeneration
• The anatomy of the spine — vertebrae, discs, joints, nerves — and how each can cause pain
• Why every patient’s mechanism of injury is unique (“you can’t judge it from car photos”)

🔍 Diagnosis & Imaging

• Taking a detailed history, physical exam, and flexion/extension X-rays
• What doctors look for on MRI reports: herniations, stenosis, spondylolisthesis
• When MRI results don’t match pain complaints — what to do next

🩹 Conservative Treatment First

• Role of rest, PT, bracing, chiropractic, and medications
• Injections: epidural steroids, facet blocks, medial branch blocks
• Regenerative options: PRP, stem-cell therapy, and how they promote true healing
• When to move from conservative care to surgical intervention

🔧 Surgical Solutions Explained Simply

• ACDF (Anterior Cervical Discectomy & Fusion) — what it is and why it works
• Posterior Cervical Fusion and Laminectomy — when the back approach is needed
• Typical recovery times, outcomes, and success stories (including Peyton Manning’s comeback)

⚖️ For the Lawyers Listening

• How Dr. Prybis evaluates causation and pre-existing conditions
• What “maximum medical improvement” (MMI) actually means
• Tips for taking effective doctor depositions
  • Streamline questions — don’t just read the chart
  • Use visuals or medical illustrations to help juries understand
  • Let the doctor explain, not just recite notes
  
  

🏈 Sports Segment — From Georgia Tech to Tennis Legends

• Georgia Tech’s 7-win season and Brent Key’s culture rebuild
• Memories of training at Nick Bollettieri’s academy with Andre Agassi and MaliVai Washington
• Reflections on American tennis then vs. now — Ben Shelton, Taylor Fritz, and the new generation
• Federer vs. Nadal vs. Djokovic — and why Federer is still the GOAT in Dr. Prybis’s eyes

🎯 Fun Extras

• What music he plays in the OR (anything but gangster rap)
• Pickleball injuries and why they’re good for orthopedics
• How social media has become the new “referral source” for doctors and lawyers alike

🔗 Connect with Dr. Brad Prybis

Practice: Spine & Orthopedic Specialists of Atlanta (SOSA)

Website: drprybisspine.com

Social: @prybisspine