Back pain has become one of the common problems nowadays among people of almost all age groups. Some are suffering from it due to age while the younger generation is going through this problem due to their lifestyle and habit of sitting for long hours in the office. Normal back pain in lower parts can be treated with medications, but for acute pain, at times doctors suggest back surgeries. There are situations when back surgery is the only option to treat the problem.
To ensure that you get the maximum benefit from the treatment, you should act wisely by knowing about different types of spine surgeries and the situations when you should consider it. Let’s first look at different types of spine surgeries:
- Discectomy
In this surgery, the surgeons remove the herniated portion of the disk to treat irritation and inflammation of a nerve. Based on the severity of the problem, the surgeons remove a full or partial portion of the lamina to access the ruptured disk.
- Fusion
In this surgery, the doctors connect two or more bones in the spine through spinal fusion. It gives you relief from the pain by adding stability to a spinal fracture. This surgery is suggested to the patients with degenerated or injured disk.
- Laminectomy
Removal of the bone overlying the spinal canal is the main process of this surgery. Through the surgery, the doctors enlarge the spinal canal and help the patients get relief from nerve pressure caused by spinal stenosis.
- Foraminotomy
In this process, the doctors enlarge the bony hole where a nerve root exits the spinal canal. This surgery is performed in the old age people having bulging disks or joints thickened with age due to pressure on the nerve.
- Artificial disk replacement
This is an alternate of spinal fusion surgery and suggested to the patients with severely damaged disks. In this process, the surgeons remove the disk and replace it with a synthetic disk to restore the height and movement between the vertebrae.
When do you need spine surgery?
Not every back-pain treatment requires the surgical process. There are specific conditions and problems when doctors will suggest spine surgery. Given below are the conditions when you might need surgical treatment to get rid of back pain:
Herniated disks
This is the situation when one or more of the disks that protect the spine bone are damaged.
Spinal stenosis
In this situation, the spinal column narrows down that puts extra pressure on the spinal cord and nerves and the only way to treat is a surgical process.
Spondylolisthesis
In this problem, one or more bone in the spine slips out of place, which can be treated only by following spine surgery.
Degenerative disk disease
This is the problem of damaged spinal disks which usually happens with older age people due to weak bone.
Overgrowth of bone
Called Osteoarthritis in medical terms, this results in bone spurs on the spine which affects the hinge joint. Doctors treat this problem of excess bone through spine surgery.
If you have some more questions about the process, the recovery, side effects or anything else, make sure you get answers to them before you make the final decision. The best spine surgeon in India always answer queries of their patients to make the surgical process comfortable and less stressful for them.