Spondylosis is degenerative arthritis of the spine. Most, if not all, people develop evidence of spondylosis on X-rays, CT or MRI, since it is normal wear and tear changes of the spine. Fortunately many people do not develop significant pain or other symptoms from it. For more information click on Back arthritis or Sciatica. Good Luck!
Degenerative disk disease is the wearing out of your disks in your back. This is a slow process resulting from drying out of the nucleus pulposus changing how the disk manage forces. Over time the disk may darkens, collapse, bulge, tear and rupture producing leg pain called Sciatica.
Everyone or at least most people develop radiologic evidence of degenerative disk disease if they live long enough, but not everyone will have pain and suffering as a result of it. There are many new treatments for degenerative disk disease including artificial disk replacement, endoscopic discectomy and annuloplasty, Endoscopic Spinal Fusion (that is Endoscopic Lumbar Interbody Fusion or ELIF).
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The neck and shoulder pain and arm tingling may be from a disk pinching a nerve in your neck. This often will cause spasms in the shoulder and lower neck. You may benefit from rest, physical therapy and/or anti-inflammatory medicine. If the pain does not improve with conservative treatment you may benefit from steroid injections or surgery depending on the cause of the pain. There is new endoscopic spine surgery options for treatment of symptomatic disks in the neck. Good Luck!
Pain may improve, stay the same or worsen after fusion surgery. The majority of people will see improvement in there pain, but few people will have complete pain relief. Unfortunately spine surgery does not give you a new uninjured back. I would discuss what the likelihood of you improving with your surgeon.
Spinal fusion surgery is usually done through an open traditional technique causing significant skin, muscle and bone damage. Recently open traditional fusion surgery is being replaced by percutaneous endoscopic fusion techniques I call Endoscopic Lumbar Interbody Fusion (ELIF). These surgeries appear to have less bleeding, soft tissue and bone damage compared to open traditional fusion surgery. Due to less soft tissue and bone damage these endoscopic surgeries appear to have less post-operative pain and a quicker recovery.
For more information on percutaneous endoscopic fusion surgery please contact Executive Spine Surgery. Good Luck!
Usually you need to:
1. Stop anti-inflammatories, aspirin, ibuprofen, plavix, warfarin 1 week before surgery. It is important to stop these medicines because they can cause excess bleeding during surgery. Unfortunately, they are important to prevent heart attacks and strokes so please check with your primary care doctor or cardiologist before discontinuing these medicines.
2. Do not eat or drink anything after midnight.
3. Arrange for a ride to and from the surgery center or hospital and for someone to stay with you afterwards.
For more information on vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty please click Kyphoplasty. Good Luck!
There are many causes of upper back pain. The pain may originate from your bones, disks, muscles, joints, nerves and spinal cord, neck, shoulders, lungs and heart. Most causes of upper back pain I see is from spine fractures, pulled muscles or arthritis. Initially you may be treated with rest, anti-inflammatory medicine, muscle relaxant and sometimes pain medicine. If the pain is severe your doctor may take you out of work. If the pain does not improve or you have neurological problems (weakness, numbness, etc) then you would need a full workup which may include X-rays, MRI and sometimes blood tests. Further treatment would depends on what is found.
Click Read More for information on treatment options. Please contact Executive Spine Surgery for more information. Good Luck!
Disc protrusion is when the disk slips out of it’s normal position in between the spinal vertebrae and extends into the spinal canal. Other commonly used names are bulging disk, slipped disk or herniated disk, etc. Spinal stenosis is tightness or loss of volume of the spinal canal.
Right L4-5 disk protrusion initially is treated with conservative treatment which may include rest, physical therapy, medications and steroid injections. Surgery is considered when a patient fails conservative treatment and/or has severe pain, numbness, weakness or neurological dysfunction (such as urinary incontinence).
Today most disk surgery can be done by using extremely minimally invasive surgical techniques called endoscopic spine surgery or laser spine surgery. This revolutionary same day surgery is done through a tiny tube the size of a pen which is placed into the spine under X-ray guidance. The disk is found and visualized through the high definition video camera found inside the spine endoscope. The disk is then removed with tiny little instruments taking pressure off of the nerve. This usual provides quick relief of pain and suffering. Often patients feel much better right after surgery.
For more information on sciatica and lumbar disk herniations click on the following link Sciatica. Good Luck!
Vertebroplasty and Kyphoplasty are very similar procedures. Kyphoplasty is a slight variation of vertebroplasty.
In both vertebroplasty and Kyphoplasty a large needle is placed into the broken vertebrae under x-ray guidance. Next plastic is injected into the fractured vertebrae in vertebroplasty, but in Kyphoplasty a ballon is blown up. The balloon may push the bone back into its original position (that is reduce the fracture). The balloon is then removed and plastic is injected into the cavity. Overall they are very similar procedures and have similar outcomes. Please click on Kyphoplasty for more information. Good Luck!
I would recommend seeing a doctor who specializes in interventional pain management and spine surgery to best determine what treatment will benefit you. I usually recommend spinal injections first and surgery to people who have failed injections. Unfortunately few doctors do shots and surgery and you will need to see 2 doctors. Click to read more about Treatment Options. Good Luck!
These are 3 separate problems:
1. Schmorl’s nodes – Schmorl’s nodes are disk herniations into the vertebral body. The disk squeezes out of the disk space into the bone. This is usually not usually painful or treated.
2. L5-S1 degenerated, bulging and protruded disk – Over time disks wear out from injury, aging, wear and tear, genetics, work and sports. Your L5-S1 disk is degenerating, wearing out and likely collapsing and bulging into the spinal canal pinching the L5 and S1 nerve root. A protruded disk is larger then bulging disk. This may be the source of the pain and is often fixed with discectomy or spinal fusion. Click link to read more on sciatica and disk herniations I have a pain in my left butt that goes all the way down my leg. What could that be?
3. Spinal stenosis – is narrowing of the spinal canal. The measurement varies but is in the range of 11 mm. More important than the measured size of the canal is the appearance and the amount of nerve compression seen on MRI. Spinal stenosis may be treated with pain injections or surgery. Minimally invasive treatment options include MILD procedure and METRx tubular laminectomy. JOIMAX is currently working on new endoscopic treatment for spinal stenosis.
I would recommend seeing a spine surgeon to determine the best treatment for your back. Good Luck!