Guide to Spinal Surgery

Majority of the people in the world have been suffering from back pain. It has become a common health issue all around the world. If you have unhealthy working habits, lack exercise or keep sitting in a place for long hours you are most likely to experience back pain. Most usually it is treated with the help of simple medications or proper exercises, but if those fail and the patient’s life is severely affected, then the doctors recommend a spinal surgery to be performed to treat prolonged back pain condition.

The doctors prefer surgery only after observation for several months that the patient’s condition hasn’t improved from the other forms of treatment. The most common types of surgeries of the spine are:

• Foraminotomy- In this process the tissues which squeeze the nerves in the back are removed. Sometimes parts of the bone are also removed and to regain stability a procedure known as spinal fusion is performed.

• Laminectomy- If a patient is suffering from spondylolisthesis or stenosis, this type of surgery is widely recommended. Parts of the back bone are removed in this process to reduce pressure on the nerves of the spine. It is often followed by the spinal fusion surgery to provide stability.

• Spinal disc replacement- This surgery is not that common, but is nowadays used as a type of new surgical method to cure back pain. The damaged spinal disc is replaced with an artificial one in its place between the vertebrae. This provides continued spine mobility and it can usually be done without spinal fusion.

• Spine fusion- To increase the stability, two vertebrae are joined together. This method reduces movement and also limits the stretching of nerves.

• Discectomy- It is used to cure herniated disc present in the vertebrae. This pressurises the spinal nerves causing pain. The surgery removes some parts or the entire disc.