You can easily manage some backaches at home with pain medication and rest. However, it could be serious if you still have a severe backache after trying all the home remedies you know. This means you must visit a doctor for a proper diagnosis and treatment. Most backaches occur when your spine is injured. That could be due to an accident or wear and tear. A powerful blow to the back, a vehicle accident, or a severe fall on your back can cause a spine injury. You will also likely sustain a spine injury if your work entails long periods of standing or sitting.
Spine injuries are treatable with medications, physical therapy, and rest. But sometimes severe interventions like surgery are necessary to correct an abnormality in the spine that could be causing you pain. Traditional open spine surgery can help. However, you can benefit more from a minimally invasive procedure because it has less stress and requires a short recovery period. We can help you understand more about spine surgery at LAMIS and your treatment options. We also perform minimally invasive surgeries in Pennsylvania for quick and less painful results.
What Pennsylvania Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery Entails
Some spine problems are mild and require minimal treatment to manage the pain and other symptoms. You can manage these with rest and pain medicine. However, there are severe spine conditions that cause excruciating back pains. You must visit a doctor for diagnosis and treatment. Doctors first recommend medications, rest, or physical therapy for severe spine conditions. However, if these do not work, the doctor can refer you to a spine surgeon for proper diagnosis and treatment.
Surgery is usually the last treatment recommendation you receive when other options fail. Spine surgeons only recommend surgery when they are sure that it is the only treatment that will relieve you of pain and other symptoms. You must also be the right candidate for spine surgery. While open spine surgery is highly effective in the treatment of a wide range of spine conditions, it is highly invasive and can result in complications.
Pennsylvania minimally invasive spine surgery is an excellent alternative. It offers all the treatment benefits of open surgery and provides more benefits that open surgery does not offer. That is why it is highly recommended when you have a spine condition that pain medication and physical therapy cannot treat.
Spine issues are expected in adulthood. Some occur after accidents, while others occur after the back muscles' natural wear and tear. People who experience spine ailments are primarily in their old age. They experience back pain more than younger adults and teenagers. Spine problems are not new in the field of medicine. Doctors have consistently offered solutions to treat most of these conditions or manage pain. They recommend resting for minor back pains after a prolonged working period. But if resting and pain medication fails to work, your physician can recommend surgery.
Spine surgeons have also consistently performed open procedures to treat spine conditions. These procedures entail opening the back to correct the spine problem causing you pain. While open-spine operations are mostly successful, they put patients at risk of post-surgery complications, like infections and prolonged recovery periods. They leave patients with significant scars that can impact their self-esteem and self-image for years. This makes minimally invasive treatment an excellent alternative, as it solves some of these issues and still provides the full benefits of surgical treatment.
Open spine surgery results in massive blood loss. This can affect your health and take a long time to recover after the procedure. Open spine surgery also exposes your tissues to external factors that could cause an infection. That will also prolong your recovery. You will need another treatment to minimize the scarring left by open surgery and improve how you feel about yourself. All these and more are issues that minimally invasive surgery in Pennsylvania seeks to solve.
However, you must be a suitable candidate for spine surgery so that your surgeon can recommend a minimally invasive procedure. Your surgeon must identify the spine condition causing your pain and conduct an additional examination to establish your suitability for surgery. If you can undergo spine surgery, the surgeon will make a small cut on your back to access the treatment area. They use that small cut to view the treatment area and diagnose and fix the problem causing your pain. The surgeon will insert all the tools they need for this procedure through that small cut to the treatment site.
Consequently, you will not bleed as you would if you underwent open spine operation. You will also not experience more pain. The small cut will not leave significant scarring that could require additional treatment to clear. The procedure will also take less time and require a short recovery period. That is why you must consider Pennsylvania minimally invasive spine surgery if you have a back condition that can only be treated through surgery.
What Pennsylvania Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery Can Treat
Spine surgeons can treat various spine disorders using minimally invasive procedures. Through minimal incisions on the patients’ backs, they can obtain a clear view of the spine and the problem causing back pain and insert treatment tools and instruments to treat the issues. Here are examples of spine conditions doctors can treat this way:
Compressed Nerves
A compressed nerve structure could be why you experience endless back pain that cannot go away even with pain medication. Bone fragments or tissues can compress a nerve structure in your spine. Treatment for compressed nerve structures includes locating and decompressing the problematic nerve (or setting it free). After making a minor incision on your back and finding the compressed nerve, the surgeon will remove the fragments or tissues that compress it. You will not experience any more pain after that. Common conditions that spine surgeons treat in this manner are herniated discs.
Destabilized Spine Segments
Spine surgeons also use minimally invasive procedures to treat destabilized spine segments. When spine segments are unstable, their functioning is also impacted. If this is the cause of your back pain, a spine surgeon can create a small incision on your back to allow some treatment tools to help stabilize the destabilized segments. Spine segments destabilize after an abnormal shift in position. It can occur after a severe accident or due to wear and tear. Once the segments are sturdy, your pain will go away.
Treatment procedures for these conditions are different. Spine surgeons use various techniques to treat spine conditions through minimally invasive strategies. The most common of these treatment techniques are foraminotomy, microdiscectomy, and laminectomy. The procedures are performed differently and produce different results. The approach the spine surgeon will use on you will depend on your spine problem and the expected results.
However, not everyone with a spine condition can undergo minimally invasive treatment. Your physician must establish your suitability for spine surgery before recommending a minimally invasive surgical operation. Doctors do this after careful consideration, including your treatment history and back condition. If you cannot undergo spine surgery, the doctor will suggest other treatment alternatives to relieve your pain and treat your spine condition. Remember that treatment for spine conditions starts with alternative treatments like rest, physical therapy, and pain medicine. Your doctor will only suggest surgery if these alternatives fail to yield the expected outcome.
The Benefits
Pennsylvania minimally invasive spine surgery is gaining popularity because of its many benefits. Typically, spine surgery is very effective in treating spinal conditions that medicine and other alternative treatments fail to treat. However, open spine surgery has various issues that increase your chance of experiencing severe complications. These are some of the problems that minimally invasive procedures solve. For example, the uncertainty that comes with open spine surgery creates anxiety in patients. An open surgery on the most susceptible part of the body is indeed a cause for worry. However, minimally invasive treatments are more accessible and pose a lower risk.
Here are some examples of benefits you can enjoy from a minimally invasive procedure:
Minimized Risk of Severe Complications
Open surgeries present a high risk of severe complications. This is because they involve massive blood loss and exposure of internal structures to external elements that could cause infections and other conditions. Minimally invasive operations do not involve cutting open the back and exposing your spine and other internal structures to external elements. It also does not include massive bleeding because the spine surgeon only needs to make a minor incision. This minimizes the risk of severe complications.
It is also not possible for the spine surgeon to damage your internal structures and tissues through a minimal incision. Your internal structures remain protected even as the spine surgeon corrects the problem causing your pain.
Reduced Scarring on the Back
Even after successful open-sione surgery, you will have to deal with massive scarring on the back that will affect your appearance and self-image. These are some of the issues that impact your self-image over time. Some scars are profound and cannot disappear with time. Some patients are forced into plastic surgery to improve the appearance of their backs after treatment. You will not worry about this after undergoing a minimally invasive procedure.
Remember that the spine surgeon only makes a minor cut on your back. That cut is not significant enough to leave a large scar on your back. You will not need additional treatment to hide the scar after treatment.
Reduced Recovery Time
The most significant worry for many people when they have to undergo open surgeries is how long it will take to recover. If you are your family’s sole dependent or are generally a busy person, an invasive surgical treatment can delay you. This is due to the significant cut done during an open surgery, massive blood loss, and possible tissue damage. These are issues that spine surgeons are solving today with minimally invasive operations. A small incision means less blood loss, reduced chances of tissue damage, and minimal blood loss. This also translates to a reduced recovery period.
Minimally invasive surgeries differ significantly from open surgeries regarding how long they take, where they are performed, and how long you recover after treatment. Your doctor can even perform your procedure in an outpatient setting. This means that you will not require hospitalization before and after the operation. Once the procedure is over and the doctor is satisfied with the outcome, they will release you to recover at home. Returning to your old self will only take a few hours of resting. However, you must carefully resume heavy duties to allow your back to fully recover.
It Is Safe for People Allergic to Anesthesia
If you are allergic to anesthesia, open surgery is not for you. An invasive surgery requires you to be on anesthesia for long periods. However, you can undergo a minimally invasive operation because it involves the administration of small amounts of anesthesia for a short period. Remember that these procedures take a very short time. They are also not painful or uncomfortable. Your doctor can keep you relaxed for a brief period, but they need to correct the abnormal spine that is causing your pain.
Possible Side Effects of Pennsylvania Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery
Even though minimally invasive procedures offer several benefits, it is crucial to take note of some side effects and what to do once they occur. The most common of these side effects include:
- An infection at the treatment site that can spread to the surrounding area
- Severe bleeding during treatment
- Resurgence pain even after treatment of the underlying spine condition
- Nerve damage
It is advisable to contact your doctor immediately after you notice any of these issues.
Find a Skilled Spine Expert Near Me
Spine disorders are the leading cause of back pain in older adults. While some of these conditions are treatable by medication and physical therapy, others are more serious and require surgery. Open spine surgery is recommended, but it is riskier, takes a longer time, and is costly. Spine surgeons today recommend minimally invasive surgeries for spine conditions.
If your back pain does not go away after medication and rest, we can help at LAMIS. We will determine whether you qualify for spine surgery before recommending minimally invasive surgery in Pennsylvania. We will also walk you through the treatment procedure and discuss your options for informed decision-making. Contact us at 310-734-6088 to learn more about us.
