Ma Ka Bo Has Grown Up. Its Spine Care Has Too.
If you’ve lived in Malad, Kandivali, or Borivali for any stretch of time, you’ve watched the skyline change almost every year. Towers where there used to be bungalows. New malls, new Metro stations, new families moving in from every corner of India and the world. Ma Ka Bo — as locals affectionately call this stretch of Mumbai’s western suburbs — is no longer just a residential belt. It’s a thriving, cosmopolitan community with its own rhythm, its own food culture, and its own identity.
What it also has — quietly, without much fanfare — is two of Mumbai’s finest spine surgeons. Practicing right here, in your neighbourhood, at hospitals you can actually reach without a two-hour commute to Bandra or a corporate hospital bill that outlasts the recovery.
Their names are Dr. Ajit Mishra and Dr. Kunal S. Singh.
Yes — a Mishra and a Singh, very much at home in the most cosmopolitan belt of Mumbai. And between them, they are solving the spine problems of an entire neighbourhood.
Let’s Talk About the Back Pain Epidemic Nobody’s Discussing
Ma Ka Bo is a beautiful place to live. It is also, quietly, a place where backs suffer.
Here’s why. This part of Mumbai has a famously rich food culture — and we say this with affection, not judgment. The street food is extraordinary. Misal Pav at the corner stall. Pav bhaji with extra butter on the tawa. Thick poha at breakfast, rice at lunch, rotis piled high at dinner. Food is love here, and carbohydrates are how that love is expressed.
The problem is simple biology. A diet rich in refined carbohydrates and low in protein, combined with largely sedentary desk or standing work, means that muscles — particularly the core muscles that support the spine — don’t get built. The spine ends up carrying a load it was never designed to carry alone.
Add to this the specific burden on women. Women in this demographic — homemakers, working professionals, and everyone in between — are disproportionately affected by degenerative spine conditions. Hormonal changes accelerate bone density loss. Years of carrying weight, bending, lifting, and standing in kitchens without ergonomic support accumulate damage silently. And because women tend to tolerate pain longer before seeking help, by the time they walk into a clinic, the degeneration is already significant.
The result? Borivali, Kandivali, and Malad see a high volume of slipped discs, sciatica, cervical spondylosis, lumbar stenosis, and degenerative disc disease. And most of those patients have been managing their pain with painkillers, hot water bags, and YouTube physiotherapy — for years longer than they should have.
Meet the Two Surgeons Who Are Changing That
Dr. Ajit Mishra — MCh Neurosurgery, NIMHANS Gold Medallist
Neurospine Surgeon | Synapse Spine, Borivali
When people in Borivali talk about Dr. Ajit Mishra, a few words come up consistently: soft-spoken, thorough, and reassuringly calm. That description belies credentials that are anything but ordinary.
Dr. Mishra completed his MCh in Neurosurgery from NIMHANS, Bengaluru — the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, widely regarded as India’s premier institution in the field — and graduated as a Gold Medallist. He went on to complete a Fellowship in Neurosurgical Oncology at Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai — India’s largest and most respected cancer centre — specialising in brain and spine tumours. In 2019, he was awarded the Best Resident Award by the Hon’ble Home Minister Shri Rajnath Singh — a recognition that puts him among the very best residents in the country that year.
He has 13 years of experience in neurosurgery and an overall patient satisfaction rating of 98%.
For spine patients specifically, Dr. Mishra’s strength lies in his diagnostic precision and his preference for avoiding surgery wherever medically sound. Patients consistently note that he analyses problems deeply, explains clearly, and recommends the least invasive solution first. When surgery is needed — whether for a spine tumour, endoscopic discectomy, or complex decompression — his hands are among the most trained in this part of Mumbai.
He practices at Synapse Spine, Borivali and Surana Hospital and Research Centre, Malad, and is known for being genuinely approachable — a doctor who makes you feel heard in a 10-minute OPD slot.
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Dr. Kunal S. Singh — MS Orthopaedics, Fellowship in Advanced Endoscopic Spine Surgery, South Korea
Consultant Spine Surgeon | Synapse Spine, Malad
If Dr. Mishra is the steady anchor, Dr. Kunal S. Singh is the sharp edge of modern spine surgery in this part of the city.
Dr. Singh completed his MBBS from Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, Wardha, and his MS in Orthopaedics from Maharashtra University of Health Sciences. He then went to South Korea for a fellowship in Advanced Endoscopic Spine Surgery — training in a country that leads the world in minimally invasive and endoscopic spine techniques.
His commitment to surgical excellence is recognized at the highest levels; he was recently selected for the Best Paper Presentation at the National Conference of MISSAB 2024 in Ahmedabad, a prestigious gathering of the country’s top minimally invasive spine surgeons.
What that training means in practical terms: Dr. Singh can operate on a herniated disc, spinal stenosis, or degenerative condition through an incision so small it barely qualifies as a cut. Patients go home sooner. They experience less post-operative pain. They return to daily activities faster. For the working professional in Malad who can’t afford weeks away from their job, or the homemaker in Kandivali who needs to be functional again quickly, this matters enormously.
His skills extend to robotic spine surgery, deformity correction, and spine trauma — a breadth that is rare at this level of training. He has won the Best Paper Presentation at MISSABCON 2024, a national spine surgery conference, and has multiple international journal publications to his name.
Dr. Singh practices at Garg Multispeciality Hospital, Malad West, Balajee Hospital, Malad East, and Ashoka General Hospital, Malad East — covering the full breadth of the Malad corridor.
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Borivali Doesn’t Have the Biggest Hospitals in Mumbai. It Has Something Better.
Let’s be honest. If you want a 700-bed JCI-accredited corporate hospital with a food court in the lobby and a valet service, you’ll find that in Lower Parel or BKC. Borivali, Kandivali, and Malad are not those places.
But here’s what Ma Ka Bo residents get with Synapse Spine that those corporate hospitals routinely fail to deliver: the same doctor at every step.
The doctor who sees your MRI is the doctor who operates. The doctor who discharges you is the doctor who follows up. The number you get after surgery is a direct line — not a call centre, not a ward receptionist. When you call with a concern at 11pm, you reach someone who knows your case.
At large corporate hospitals, this is genuinely rare. Spine surgery is often split between a consulting surgeon, a resident who does the rounds, and a physiotherapy team that has never met the operating doctor. The bill includes line items for consumables that were opened in the room with or without your knowledge.
At Synapse Spine’s Borivali and Malad centres, this fragmentation doesn’t exist. It’s a focused, high-volume spine practice — part of a network that has treated over 30,000 patients and performed more than 2,000 spine surgeries across Mumbai — where every patient is known by name and every surgery is the operating surgeon’s personal responsibility.
What’s Getting Treated Here?
The team handles the full range of conditions common to this population: slipped disc, sciatica, cervical spondylosis, lumbar spinal stenosis, spondylolisthesis, degenerative disc disease, spine tumours, and spine trauma.
Surgical procedures available include endoscopic discectomy, minimally invasive spine surgery, micro-discectomy, spinal fusion, robotic spine surgery, deformity correction, and vertebroplasty for fractures.
Non-surgical care includes physiotherapy, root blocks, spinal injections, and structured rehabilitation — because the first goal is always to avoid surgery if medically possible.
What Patients Are Saying…
Reviews of Dr. Ajit Mishra describe a doctor who is knowledgeable with a no-nonsense approach, friendly and supportive, who explains conditions in understandable terms and has delivered successful surgical and recovery outcomes for neurological and spinal cases consistently. One family described how their 62-year-old father, who had been diagnosed with a serious condition, was discharged within a week after successful surgery — and they credited Dr. Mishra’s calm, clear communication as much as his surgical skill for making the process bearable.
Across the Synapse Spine network, the outcomes tell the same story: a patient who couldn’t walk is riding their bike. A bedridden patient is climbing stairs. A woman who had been in pain for two years is sleeping through the night.
If You Live in Ma Ka Bo and Your Back Hurts — This Is Your Next Step
You don’t need to go to South Mumbai for world-class spine care. You don’t need a corporate hospital referral chain, a ₹50,000 surgery quote before anyone has even examined you, or a system where you never see the same doctor twice.
Synapse Spine is already here. Dr. Mishra and Dr. Singh are already here. And they’re seeing patients in the neighbourhood where they practice — with the directness, the accessibility, and the personalised attention that only a focused spine practice can offer.
Book a Consultation
Dr Ajit Mishra — Borivali
Ground floor, Samadhan Society, Chandavarkar Rd, near Rail Nagar, Paranjape Nagar, Vazira, Borivali, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400092
📞 9136501682
Dr. Kunal S. Singh — Malad
Shah Arcade, Balaji Hospital, 3, Rani Sati Rd, near passport office, Malad, Kasam Baug, Malad East, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400097
📞 8149686139