Who’s a good candidate for spine surgery?
Spine surgeries are usually reserved for people who have not responded well to less invasive treatment options such as:
- physical therapy
- over-the-counter medications (Advil, Aleve)
- prescription medications (muscle relaxers, corticosteroids, anti-inflammatories)
- back injections
Our doctor will also consider other factors, such as your age, overall health, and lifestyle, when deciding whether surgery is a good fit for your needs.
Types of Spine Surgery
Common types of spine surgery include laminectomy, vertebroplasty, and spinal fusion. Certain procedures are better suited for certain types of damage.
There are many types of spine surgery, but most involve reducing pressure on inflamed nerve roots in your back. Spinal surgery may be a good option if you’re dealing with a painful condition, such as a herniated disk, that hasn’t responded to more conservative treatments.
Spine surgeries can involve many surgical techniques, including:
- removing excess or problematic pieces of bone.
- adding adhesive material or hardware to strengthen and support your bones.
- fusing bones together.
- reducing or removing the cushiony disks between your vertebrae.
- implanting artificial disks.
Spine Surgeries
Let’s take a look at the various spinal surgeries in more detail.
1. Vertebroplasty
2. Kyphoplasty
3. Laminectomy: During a laminectomy, a surgeon removes the vertebral bone that serves as the roof of the spinal canal, called the lamina. They do this to relieve pressure in your spine that’s causing pain or other symptoms. This procedure is often used to treat spinal stenosis.
4. Diskectomy: In this procedure, a surgeon removes damaged tissue from one of your disks.
5. Spinal fusion: During spinal fusion surgery, a surgeon uses a bone graft or metal hardware to permanently fuse two vertebrae.
This surgery often isn’t a good fit for younger people because it can affect your range of motion. But it can bring relief for people with conditions that make it painful to move in certain directions.
6. Foraminotomy: Many nerve roots branch off your spinal cord and travel to other parts of your body. These nerves can become pinched when something presses against them. A foraminotomy widens the space that your affected nerve passes through, helping to relieve pressure.
7. Nucleoplasty: This procedure is similar to a diskectomy, but it involves removing tissue from inside one of your spinal disks.
Spinal surgeries can help treat:
- herniated disk (slipped disk)
- ruptured disk
- spinal stenosis
- spondylolisthesis
- osteoporosis
- degenerative disk disease
- scoliosis
- spondylitis
- spinal tumors
Minimally invasive spine surgeries
During MISS, a surgeon makes smaller incisions on either side of your spin. They then use specialized tools and imaging techniques to perform the surgery through these incisions.