Mr Am Rai

I am a Consultant Spinal and Orthopaedic Surgeon in the East of England with private practices at Spire Norwich Hospital, Spire Cambridge Lea Hospital and Spire King’s Lynn Clinic. One of the leading Spinal Surgeons in the UK with over 30 years' experience in treating patients for a wide range of back and neck problems, my practice philosophy is to treat everyone as an individual, doing what is right, as if they were members of my own family. I personally appreciate the disability from spinal disease as I have undergone spinal surgery in recent years myself.

I am a super expert in minimal keyhole spinal surgery and have vast experience treating spinal stenosis in the ageing spine. My special clinical interests include adult deformity surgery, the treatment of pain conditions such as arm pain (brachalgia), neck pain, low back pain (sacroiliac joint dysfunction) and tailbone pain (coccydynia).  Other special interests include cervical (neck) surgery, cervical spinal surgery (cervical decompression and fusion, cervical disc replacement), complex and reconstruction spinal surgery, slipped disc (discectomy), spondylolisthesis (misalignment of the vertebrae), facet joint replacement, fractures of the spine, minimally invasive treatment of conditions caused by osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, lumbar spinal surgery, laser manipulation, non-fusion spinal surgery, pain management, sacroiliac fusion, sciatica (pinched nerve), scoliosis, spinal problems in the elderly and children (paediatrics), spinal tumours, sports spinal injuries, thoracic spinal surgery and trauma surgery.

I have performed in excess of 10,000 operations and demonstrated expertise on a wide range of spinal conditions.  However, the majority of patients seen in my clinic are treated conservatively, without the need for an operation. Be assured if surgical intervention is required you are in safe hands and expertise as evidenced by holding the largest patient database looking at spinal outcomes, which are recorded on the British Spinal Register.

I was elected by my surgical peers President of the British Association of Spinal Surgeons (BASS) 2014-2017 and was on the BASS Executive Committee for six years (2017-2023).

I am also the Director of a spinal charity Spine Aid, which arranges regular trips abroad for spinal surgeons and multi-disciplinary team to help treat under privileged children with spinal deformities.

I am proud to share my knowledge and experience with colleagues having trained over 25 Consultant Spinal Surgeons worldwide. I helped develop core curriculum for spinal training and am the Foundation Programme Director for junior doctors. I am a regular reviewer of unit level surgical practice in the UK via BASS and Royal College of Surgeons.

Please click on the following links to read articles that I have contributed to about back pain and scoliosis:

Ask the expert: what is scoliosis?

Back pain: symptoms, causes and treatments explained

How physiotherapy can help relieve your back pain