Guest Editor, November 2026

It's a pleasure to write the first guest editorial of Spinal Frontiers, a uniquely broad resource for everyone in spinal care. I look forward to watching it grow through contributions from the whole spine community.

It is truly multidisciplinary, serving spine surgeons, allied health professionals, anaesthetists, pain physicians and even veterinary spine surgeons. It is also a resource for medtech professionals, whose contribution to spine care is greatly valued.

Researchers will find the latest publications, patents and trials, along with funding calls, registries and abstract deadlines. Those developing spine services will find a directory of spine medtech companies, instructions for use and technique guides, and even a spine theatre builder. Jobs, fellowships and a worldwide calendar of meetings round off the picture, for established clinicians and trainees alike.

— Dr. med. habil. Bronek Boszczyk, guest editor, November 2026

I was born and raised in Johannesburg, to a South African mother and a German father, and South Africa still feels like home. After school at the Deutsche Schule Johannesburg I moved to Germany and served with the mountain infantry, the Gebirgsjäger, which left me with a lasting love of the Bavarian Alps.

My interest in the spine began at the University of Munich, with my doctoral thesis under Professor Putz comparing the lumbar spine across mammals. During my rotation in paediatric orthopaedics, Michael Mayer started his spine unit in Munich, and I joined him as one of his first residents. His new spine service combined neurosurgery and orthopaedics, microsurgery and reconstruction. He encouraged me to train in neurosurgery, which I completed under Professor Jaksche, followed by time in the spinal cord injuries unit. In spinal trauma I worked closely with Drs Beisse, Potulski and Hauck, who at the time were world leaders in thoracoscopic spine surgery.

I then returned to orthopaedics with a fellowship under Professor Paul Heini in Bern, the centre shaped by Max Aebi and Dante Marchesi, where I was introduced to paediatric deformity surgery. After two years I moved to the Centre for Spinal Studies and Surgery in Nottingham, founded by John Webb, which serves close to five million people. I stayed as a consultant for 13 years, five of them as the first neurosurgeon to head the unit.

In Nottingham I founded NSpine with my friend Sherif El Sayed, then a fellow there, as a conference giving practical teaching to the working surgeon; the N stands for Nottingham. It soon outgrew its home and became an international provider of surgical training. I am also establishing the Blackwell Foundation, a non-profit for outreach, mentorship and independent international fellowships.

After Brexit I returned to Germany and founded a paediatric spinal deformity department at one of the country's oldest paediatric orthopaedic hospitals, in Aschau, where Dr Areena D'Souza, a Nottingham fellowship-trained deformity surgeon, joined me. Together we run a paediatric spine service for regional and supra-regional referrals.

I have no formal training in business, law or tax, so building NSpine has meant learning by doing. Away from work I play bass guitar, for many years with the Sultans of Spine, and I founded the charity band Angel206, named after the 206 bones of the body, which raises funds for projects including paediatric spinal deformity care.

The photo is from the end of my time in Nottingham, when my surgical practice was at its broadest.

Patent: an automated robotic rod bender (Globus Medical, US 12,715,142 B2, granted 25 August 2026)

A two-arm robot: one arm feeds and rotates the rod while the other bends it to a patient-specific contour.

This patent caught my eye because it marks a new phase in theatre: robots taking over tasks we have always done by hand. I can already picture a humanoid robot bending rods beside the scrub team, an intriguing glimpse of things to come.

Declared interest: NSpine's courses receive support from medical device companies, including Globus Medical. Spinal Frontiers receives no payment for coverage.

See it in Patent Watch → · Humanoid robots in theatre: our monthly watch →

Historic book: Nicolas Andry, Orthopaedia (1743)

My second pick is one I came across while reviewing this issue: Nicolas Andry's Orthopaedia of 1743, free to read in our new Classics section. Andry gave orthopaedics its name and its emblem, the crooked young tree bound to a straight stake. For anyone who treats spinal deformity in children, it's still the perfect picture of what we do, even if the likeness was drawn to correct deformity in a child's leg.

Read it free in Classics and historic books →

Remember the legacy that built you. Remember those who took the time to train you as a young surgeon and shared their knowledge and wisdom. As you join the older surgical generation, there is great joy in seeing those you trained become the new leaders of our specialty. The debt you owe your trainers is repaid to your trainees. This is the essence of surgical training, and what keeps the cycle of our profession turning.

The easiest thing for a surgeon is to keep the case. Do every step yourself, explain a little as you go, and no one is put at risk. But that isn't training. Training means letting a trainee take ownership of a case, step by step, and for us that means letting go. We hand over part of the responsibility, and part of the danger.

We carry a dual duty. We must protect our patients and make sure they receive the best care. And we must protect our trainees, from the consequences of causing harm, and from leaving training without the skill and confidence to carry our specialty forward.

What makes this possible is trust, and trust runs both ways. I can only step away from the table if I know, without any doubt, that my trainee will stop when something isn't right, and call me. So I need to know them as a person: their sense of responsibility, what makes them afraid, what gives them courage.

A word of consideration for trainees, then. Tell us honestly what you are comfortable doing, and where you are unsure. Saying 'I need guidance here' is not weakness. It is exactly what lets us trust you with more. Knowing when to stop is the most important skill we can see in you.

The debt we owe our trainers is repaid to our trainees, and trust is the currency we pay it in.

— Dr. med. habil. Bronek Boszczyk, guest editor, November 2026

Breakfast · about 10 minutes · serves one

My go-to breakfast before a long day in theatre. The fun is in the contrast: hot scrambled eggs next to cold tuna.

You need

• 1 ripe avocado
• 1 tin of tuna in olive oil, from the fridge (or tuna in water with a splash of olive oil)
• 2 eggs
• Black pepper, salt flakes and Tabasco

Method

1. Halve the avocado and remove the stone. Season with pepper, salt flakes and Tabasco, and eat it straight from the skin with a spoon.
2. Season the cold tuna with black pepper.
3. Scramble the eggs with pepper, salt and a dash of Tabasco (add anything else you like), and serve them hot next to the cold tuna.

Approximate, based on typical values; brands and sizes vary. Contains fish and egg.

For me, at 90 kg on a busy day, that covers roughly 40 to 50% of my daily protein needs.

More quick meals are on Health & Nutrition.

The recipe on Health & Nutrition →

NSpine Limited, which I founded and direct, publishes Spinal Frontiers. NSpine's courses receive support from medical device companies, including Globus Medical. I also chair the Blackwell Foundation in Switzerland, which supports surgical education. I invest in medtech companies from time to time, and currently hold no shares in spine medtech companies. And as bassist of Angel206, I may be biased in thinking our songs are among the best out there.