Spine procedures and treatments.

This common procedure involves injecting a pain-relieving medication or steroid into the area, known as the epidural space, that's near the nerves surrounding the spinal cord. The procedure provides pain relief or a complete loss of sensation in the lower half of the body (such as during childbirth). Steroid injections are intended to manage chronic pain by reducing nerve pain and inflammation.

Physical therapy may be an effective non-surgical treatment option for back pain or other mild to moderate spinal issues. A physical therapist can evaluate your specific condition, provide recommendations, and offer care to alleviate symptoms, including strengthening your core, improving your posture, and increasing your flexibility.

For many people, especially those younger than 60, appropriate medication, light physical activity, and treatment at home can effectively alleviate symptoms. A heating pad or other form of heat therapy can be helpful. Using over the counter medications like ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin, etc.) or sodium naproxen (Aleve) often help to reduce pain. Other options include muscle relaxants, topical creams and patches, interventional pain management procedures, and even certain antidepressants.

Minimally invasive spine surgery (MISS) is a type of surgery performed on the bones of your spine (backbone). This surgery uses smaller incisions than standard surgery, so it may cause less harm to nearby muscles and other tissues and may involve less pain and faster recovery.

A discectomy is a surgical procedure that removes a herniated or damaged portion of a disc in your spine. The purpose of discectomy is to relieve symptoms caused by the pressure that a herniated disc places on spinal nerves. A corpectomy is a variation of the discectomy procedure in which the damaged disc, bone spurs, and vertebrae are removed.

A laminectomy is a surgical procedure that treats spinal stenosis. The doctor removes the portion of the vertebrae called the lamina so the pressure on the nerves is relieved. A hemilaminectomy is a less invasive version of a full laminectomy that aims to preserve most of the bone, resulting in approximately half of the bone removal.

Kyphoplasty is a surgical procedure that repairs vertebral compression fractures. A balloon-like device is used to create space in the fractured vertebrae, and then a material similar to cement is injected into the space.

A foraminotomy is a surgical procedure that reduces pressure on compressed nerves in the spinal column by expanding the area around the bones through small incisions in the back or neck.

An intrathecal pump (also known as a pain pump) is a small implanted device that delivers pain-relieving medication directly into spinal cord fluid, which improves the drug's efficacy, attains pain relief at a lower dosage, and may reduce medication side effects.

Fusion surgery is used to treat pain caused by misalignment or instability of the vertebrae. In some cases, a piece of bone is placed between the two vertebrae so that the bone grows together and fuses that part of the spine. The bone may come from an area on your hip or a donor bone. Metal plates, rods, and screws are used to keep the bones together and improve that chance that the bones will fuse together. Fusion procedures include oblique lateral interbody fusion (OLIF - also known as anterior lumbar fusion), direct lateral interbody fusion (DLIF), sacroiliac (SI) joint fusion, and spinal (lumbar) fusion.

Cervical discs are the cushions between the vertebrae in your cervical spine, which is located at the back of your neck. Cervical disc replacement surgery is an innovative procedure that replaces a damaged disc with an artificial one to reduce pain, numbness, and weakness.

Cervical spine surgery relieves the pain and other symptoms of cervical disc disease by removing the disc that is creating pressure on a nerve or the spinal cord in a procedure known as cervical discectomy.

• Anterior cervical discectomy involves an incision in the front of the neck, while posterior cervical discectomy invovles the back of the neck.
• Cervical microdiscectomy is a similar procedure utilizing a microscope or other magnification device and result in a smaller incision.
• Anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) removes damaged discs or bone spurs and fills in the space with bone graft fusion.

Similar to cervical disc replacement, lumbar disc replacement involves swapping out a damaged disc that is causing pain for an artificial disc in the lumbar region of your spine (lower back).

Lumbar spine surgery reduces pain in the lower back through lumbar discectomy, where the damaged disc is removed to relieve pressure and pain.

A spinal osteotomy is a bone-cutting surgery that aligns your spine to correct deformity. If a section of your spine has too much or too little curvature, it can cause misalignment and result in pain, pressure on internal organs, and extreme fatigue.