Advanced Spine & Pain Clinics of MN

We work closely with referring providers, Chiropractors, Physical Therapists, Orthopaedic Spine Surgeons, Neurosurgeons, Psychologists, and primary care providers, and take great pride in communicating each patient’s treatment plan with those involved in the patient’s care.

Our Practice Philosophy

Our overriding philosophy in medical practice is to Relieve the pain, Restore normal function, and to Rejuvenate the body in an ethical and evidence-based manner. We strive to provide the best evidence-based treatment for the timely management of complex spinal and other pain problems, and to keep the patient’s interest in mind at all times. We want to establish trust and communication with patients so they are treated with dignity and respect. We are constantly learning and growing from our interaction with patients. It is a privilege to assist in their care.

Matthew G. Thorson, MD

Dr. Matthew Thorson grew up on a farmstead near West Fargo, North Dakota. He has an undergraduate degree from the University of North Dakota. He earned his Doctorate in Medicine at the University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences. After a Transitional Year Residency at the University of North Dakota/Meritcare in Fargo, N.D. he entered his residency in Anesthesiology at the Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, NE. For more advanced training he transferred to the University of Florida Anesthesiology Residency Program. He then entered the Fellowship program in Pain Medicine at the University of Iowa School of Medicine in Iowa City, IA. Dr. Thorson is board certified in both Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine by the American Board of Anesthesiology.

He is a member of the American Society of Anesthesiology, the Minnesota Society of Interventional Pain Physicians, the International Spine Intervention Society, American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians, North American Spine Society, and the International Cellular Medicine Society. He has attended numerous conferences and courses to keep up to date on the latest information and technology. He has also spoken at several different events on interventional pain issues.

Dr. Thorson has become the leading regional expert on the use of Stem Cell Therapy and Regenerative Medicine for the treatment of many chronic diseases and chronic pain issues.

Education

Professional Memberships & Associations

Mark A. Janiga, MD

Dr Janiga is an active member of the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians, American Society of Anesthesia, and the International Spinal Intervention Society.

He is committed to providing patients the latest in diagnostic and therapeutic pain-relieving treatments. Prolotherapy is one of Dr. Janiga’s most relied upon and favorite pain-relieving therapies for soft tissue/ligamentous/tendon problems. Sacro-iliac (SI) joint, low back, upper cervical (neck) pain, and sports related musculoskeletal pain are his special areas of interest.

Dr. Janiga spent most of his childhood in Andover, Minnesota, with his parents and 4 siblings. In his spare time he enjoys skiing, golfing, camping and fishing – in general, enjoying nature and the outdoors!

Lou Saeger, MD

Dr. Saeger is a Board-certified specialist in Pain Management and Anesthesiology, and joined Advanced Spine and Pain Clinics of MN as a partner in 2015. He also serves as Medical Director with Injury Physicians of Minnesota, LLC, and is the exclusive provider in the upper Midwest for North American Spine’s AccuraScope procedure. Dr. Saeger’s practice is focused on state-of-the-art interventional and minimally invasive techniques for diagnosis and management of pain.

His career in pain management began in medical school at the University of Oklahoma, where he worked with Dr. Robert Foreman on mapping viscero-somatic convergence pathways in the spinothalamic tract, and in 1978, co-authored the pain clinic’s patient education booklet, Coping with Pain. His anesthesiology residency and a two-year NIH pain research fellowship were in Seattle, at the University of Washington, where he trained with two of the iconic pioneers in pain management and regional anesthesia, Dr. John J. Bonica and Dr. Danny Moore. As a Senior Fellow, he co-founded the Pain and Toxicity Research Program at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, where his research included studies on opioid pharmacology, anti-emetics, and the clinical introduction of PCA for bone marrow transplant patients. Over the years, he has authored or co-authored numerous publications, including many in peer-reviewed journals.

Since entering private practice in 1986, Dr. Saeger has been increasingly focused on the diagnosis and treatment of spine-related conditions, and he continues to train in advanced, cutting-edge approaches to minimally invasive treatments for spine and headache pain. In the Seattle area, he was an active member of the interdisciplinary Puget Sound Spine Interest Group, serving on its board, and as President 2000-2001. In 2003, he established the Interventional Pain Management Division of Midwest Spine & Brain Institute, LLC, a group of Orthopedic and Neurological spine surgeons, where he remained as a partner until 2014. While at MSI, he collaborated with Dr. Glenn Buttermann on studies of spinal biomechanics in an animal model for testing artificial discs, and published an extensive case series on an innovative approach for performing seated cervical interventional procedures. He has assumed a leadership role in Minnesota, serving on the chronic pain guidelines working group of the Institute for Clinical Systems Improvement, and as President of the Minnesota Society of Interventional Pain Physicians. Dr. Saeger is a long-standing member of the International Spine Intervention Society, with which he serves as one of its clinical instructors. He is certified in evidence-based medicine, and serves as a referee for the journal Pain Medicine. His professional associations also include the North American Spine Society, the North American Neuromodulation Society, the American Academy of Pain Medicine, and the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians.

Dr. Saeger has become nationally recognized as a leader in Minimally Invasive Laser Spine Procedures.

Dr. Saeger sees and treats patients in our Edina office and procedure suite, and also routinely schedules procedures at the Greenway Surgery Center in Minneapolis, and at Woodbury Surgical Suites in Woodbury.