There’s hardly a person who has not suffered from some discomfort or pain of the back (neck included). Running from the head to the lowest point of the back is a wonderful structure called the Spine. It is made up of bone, cartilage and ligament and encloses the spinal cord which connects our brain to the rest of the body. It is a most important structure that is needed for maintaining our posture, movements and many normal physiological functions. In earlier times injury to the spine was often synonymous with death. However, today excellent and often curative treatment is available, though only in specialized centers. The spine may be malformed from birth or be affected by injuries, infections, age related degenerative changes and tumours. The structure of the spine is such that it needs the knowledge and skills of both Neurology and Orthopedics for its treatment. A specialty known as spine surgery has developed to take care of the diseases involving the spine. The Spine Surgeon, however, does not have to surgically operate on every patient with spinal disease (much like the Eye or ENT Surgeon), in fact, other modalities of treatment like medicines, physiotherapy, splinting etc. form the largest bulk of the spine surgeons armamentarium. When required, modern spine surgery offers highly sophisticated intervention with advanced operating microscopes, high speed drills, endoscopic procedures, operating room O-arm x-rays and per operative neural monitoring. The latest advance is robotic surgery where human error is eliminated and access to deepest areas of the human body through minimum size cuts is possible. Kolkata today offers one of the highest levels of spine surgery both in quantity and quality. In fact in results of treatment, scientific publications and training of young Spine surgeons it is second to none. One can proudly say that over 50 Kolkata - trained spine surgeons are now the leaders of the discipline all over the country.