Spine care for Romeo patients

Spine care for Romeo

Romeo sits at the northern reach of Macomb County, a historic village with a small-town character that sets it apart from the strip-mall corridors further south. That distinctiveness has a practical side effect: subspecialty medical care, including advanced spine surgery, simply isn't available locally. Residents dealing with chronic back pain, radiculopathy, or a new diagnosis tend to travel.

Edvin Telemi, MD, is a fellowship-trained neurosurgeon who focuses exclusively on the spine, practicing out of Shelby Township. That focus matters. Patients who come from the Romeo area are often navigating decisions: whether to proceed with surgery, whether a less invasive approach is possible, whether a prior recommendation they received holds up to scrutiny. Dr. Telemi's practice is structured around giving those patients a clear, direct answer rather than a referral loop.

For those in the peach-orchard stretch of northern Macomb County, the corridor south is the practical path to subspecialty spine care without crossing into Oakland or Wayne counties.

Getting to the Shelby Township office from Romeo

The navigation is simple from Romeo: M-53 (Van Dyke Avenue) runs directly south from the village, and it's the same road you'll stay on for most of the drive. You won't need a highway on-ramp. The route passes through Washington Township and into Shelby Township before you reach the Schoenherr Road area.

The office is located at 50505 Schoenherr Rd, Suite 200, Shelby Township, MI 48315. Once you exit the M-53 corridor onto Schoenherr, the building is nearby. Compared to driving into Troy or Detroit for a spine specialist, this route keeps you entirely within Macomb County and avoids the congestion of I-75 or I-696.

Plan for the drive to take somewhat longer during morning rush periods when southbound Van Dyke backs up through the townships, but mid-morning appointments typically see lighter traffic.

Common reasons Romeo patients come in

Because Romeo is at the outer edge of the county's suburban reach, the population skews toward a mix of older long-term residents and working-age adults in trades and agriculture-adjacent work. Both groups carry patterns of spine wear that show up frequently in Dr. Telemi's consult schedule.

Older patients from the area often arrive with multilevel stenosis or degenerative changes that have progressed over years, sometimes after being told surgery is too risky or that "nothing can be done." Dr. Telemi evaluates those cases with a fresh set of eyes, and minimally invasive or endoscopic approaches have expanded what is surgically feasible for patients who are not ideal candidates for open procedures.

Younger and working-age patients tend to come in after a disc herniation or acute injury that isn't resolving with conservative care. For this group, the question is usually timing (whether to continue physical therapy, pursue an epidural, or move to surgery), and Dr. Telemi walks through that decision with each patient based on their specific imaging and functional limits.

A third group comes specifically for second opinions. If a prior surgeon in the area recommended a spinal fusion or multi-level procedure, patients from Romeo are welcome to bring their MRI and operative notes for an independent review before committing to that path.