Lumbar Surgery - Degenerative Spine

A Guide To Understand Lumbar Surgery

Lower back pains can be sheer trouble: millions of people around the world suffer from it, and many more are on the way to experiencing this pain. In its advanced stages, when the pain becomes unbearable, the only way out is a lumbar surgery of the spine. Lumbar spine surgery is performed on the lower back; it mainly consists of two types of surgical procedures--decompression back surgery, and lumbar spinal fusion.

Decompression Back Surgery

Decompression back surgery is done in order to treat the pain being caused by pinched nerves. A small part of the bone above the nerve root and /or disc material from under it is removed in order to provide more room space to the nerve and relieve it from being pinched.

There are two main spine surgery decompression procedures:

* Microdiscectomy: A small incision is made in the mid line of the lower back. The back muscles are lifted up form their place on the lamina of the spine. A membrane above the nerve roots is removed to enter the spine. A small part of the inside facet joint is taken out for making the nerve root more accessible and for reducing the pressure on the nerve root. The disc material is then removed from under the nerve root.

* Laminectomy: A two to five inch incision is made into the mid line of the lower back. The erector spinae from both sides of the lamina is dissected. The lamina is removed to get access to the nerve root. The facet joint over the nerve root is trimmed to provide more space to the nerve root.

Lumbar Spinal Fusion

A lumbar spinal fusion surgery is performed to decrease the joint pain generated from a motion at a vertebral segment that is affected by the pain.

It mainly involves the addition of a bone graft in an area of the spine where it can grow in middle of the two vertebral elements, to stop the motion at the segment.

Lumbar spinal fusion surgery is done to treat abnormal and excessive motion at a vertebral segment that may result in pain. Some major problems that are tackled with lumbar spinal fusion surgery are degenerative disc disease, degenerative spondylolisthesis, unstable or weak spine, fractures and deformity of the spine.

Contrary to popular belief, lumbar spine surgery is not very risky. Lumbar spine surgery is known to be highly successful in treating all the above-mentioned problems. If you are suffering from one of these problems, then it may work for you.

Degenerative Spine