Back Surgery Information

Herniated Disc Treatment

If you're suffering from this condition, then finding an effective herniated disc treatment is probably foremost in your mind. The pain, numbness, tingling, and other symptoms can disrupt your life and make even simple tasks feel nearly impossible. Thankfully, most herniated discs heal over time and leave you free to enjoy the things you love. In the meantime, there are many steps you can take to minimize discomfort.

Conservative herniated disc treatment options include:

When is Herniated Disc Surgery Necessary?

For most, herniated disc surgery will never enter the picture. Most people who have the condition find that with adequate rest, it either heals itself within a few months, or the symptoms it causes can be managed well enough with conservative techniques to allow them to live a happy, normal life. However, for a minority of sufferers, the pain and other symptoms are too much to bear, and less invasive techniques simply do not provide adequate relief; they continue to experience a decreased quality of life. In this small fraction of cases, the doctor may recommend herniated disc surgery as a last resort – a final chance for relief.

Herniated Disc Causes

Herniated disc causes can vary widely, but the vast majority of cases can be attributed to just a few issues. These include:

• Wear and tear – The movements and physical stresses of everyday life take their toll the spinal discs and this wear and tear can be accelerated by factors like obesity and physically demanding job
• Sudden traumatic injury – A car accident or other physically injurious event can put so much pressure on a disc that it ruptures.
• Sports – Physically demanding sports, especially those requiring repetitive movement and heavy lifting, can push a spinal disc beyond its limits, weaken it, and make it more likely to herniate.
• Degeneration – As the body ages, spinal discs lose water and become more brittle, weakening the outer layer, the annulus fibrosus, and increasing the chance they’ll rupture.

Herniated Disc – What Is It?

To understand the condition known as herniated disc, it's first necessary to know the function and anatomy of a healthy spinal disc. Intervertebral discs serve to cushion the vertebrae in the spine, absorbing stress and keeping them from rubbing against one another. These discs consists of two main parts: a tough exterior layer known as the annulus fibrosus, and a jelly-like interior layer that is contained by this exterior layer and is known as the nucleus pulposus. In a healthy disc, the annulus fibrosus protects the nucleus pulposus, but in a herniated disc it has become compromised and split open, allowing this core material to leak out into the surrounding area.

Herniated Disc – What Can It Do?

In most cases, a herniated disc will not cause symptoms because the nucleus pulposus does not leak far enough or in a direction that it impinges upon a nerve root or the spinal cord. However, if it does put pressure on one of these structures, or irritates the nerve endings in the outer layer, the result can be symptoms including:

Stenosis Surgery

An alternative to open back/neck surgery, endoscopic procedures use minimally invasive techniques to access and treat the area in the spine where the narrowing has occurred. Just some of the benefits this treatment boasts include:

Herniated Disc Surgery at Laser Spine Institute Can Help You Get Your Life Back

Whether you’ve been suffering for two years or twenty, a herniated disc can truly change your life. After a while, it becomes hard even to remember what life is like with no back or neck pain. For many people, herniated disc surgery promises a chance to return to that life and get back to enjoying the things they love, whether it’s long walks, gardening, or just playing with their grandchildren.

Laser Spinal Surgery Can Permanently Relieve Back and Neck Pain with Minimal Downtime

Choosing to undergo surgery as a way to relieve back and neck pain is a big decision, but for many people, it is the only one that offers the promise of a new life after conservative methods have failed. If you’re considering surgery, then you should know that open-back and neck procedures aren’t the only option. Endoscopic laser spine surgery at Laser Spine Institute (LSI) is a minimally invasive procedure that can provide maximum relief with minimal recovery time.

Bulging Disc Surgery at Laser Spine Institute Offers Relief with a Shorter Recovery Time

If you’ve been advised by your doctor that bulging disc surgery is your only chance left for pain relief, then you should know that traditional, open-back or neck surgery is not your only option. Laser Spine Institute (LSI) offers several gentle, endoscopic procedures that treat bulging disc without many of the risks or the long recovery period of traditional surgery. These procedures only require a small incision and use small tubes to gently push muscle aside and reach the surgery site, rather than a large incision and cutting through the muscle and bone. After the surgery, most of our patients are able to get up and walk around within a few hours, and they are sent home or to their hotel the same day for rest and recovery. After a post-operative exam they are released and most can return to normal activities within a few weeks, which is significantly shorter than the usual six-month or longer recovery of open-back or neck surgery.

Chronic Back Pain Treatment at Laser Spine Institute Can Bring Permanent Relief

If you have been experiencing chronic back pain and conservative treatment like steroid injections or physical therapy hasn’t worked, then endoscopic surgery at Laser Spine Institute (LSI) may be your best bet for reducing your back pain. 

Laser Back Surgery Can Get You on the Road to Relief from a Number of Conditions in…

Back pain is one of the top health complaints for American adults. It has many of us running between our doctors, chiropractors, masseuses, and physical therapists day in and day out. We take Tylenol and stronger narcotics when the pain becomes too much to bear. We beg for something stronger and end up with spinal steroid injections. It’s an ongoing battle against painful symptoms that sometimes seems impossible to win. But there’s an answer: laser back surgery. 

Laser Back Surgery Provides a Safer, More Effective Alternative to Traditional Back…

If like many Americans you suffer from back pain, you’ve probably taken part in the long, often frustrating process of trying to treat it. It starts with conservative therapies meant to manage pain: hot and cold compresses, pain killers, anti-inflammatory medications, massage, chiropractic adjustments—the list goes on. While those methods normally provide some measure of relief, it’s often only temporary. From there your doctor may tell you that there is no way to eliminate your pain, or he or she may suggest back surgery. If you are considering it, you should research the traditional methods as well as laser back surgery. For most back pain—including sciatica, herniated disc, pinched nerve, and stenosis—the surgical solution involves removing the bone or other tissue that’s compressing the spine or nerves and triggering pain. 

Laser Back Surgery at its Finest: Laser Spine Institute

An increasing number of facilities in America and around the globe are providing laser-assisted endoscopic procedures, and like any other medical decision, you should do a lot of research before choosing which facility and surgeon is right for your laser back surgery. Why? Because whomever you choose will be operating near a body part which is vital to your daily functions - the spine. Errors could lead to catastrophic injury, in the worst case scenario, and at the very least, they could mean no relief from the back pain you’re looking to treat. But, when you have your laser back surgery at LSI, you get the peace of mind that comes with choosing the surgery center that performs the most laser spine surgeries per month, more than any facility in the approximately 400. Our surgical team has more than 30 years of combined experience, during which they have perfected the science of laser spine surgery at our state-of-the-art facilities. We’ve treated patients with other health issues and even many aged 90 and up, showing that our minimally invasive surgery is a good solution, even for persons who face increased risks during surgery. 

Laser Back Surgery is Successful in Treating Many Conditions—You May Be a Candidate

Whether you’re suffering with the shooting pains in your legs associated with a pinched nerve or herniated disc, or the weakness and tingling that occur with spinal stenosis, you may be a great candidate for laser back surgery at Laser Spine Institute. We treat thousands of patients annually—more than 400 a month—using procedures that directly address the cause of their back pain, using minimally invasive procedures that are both safe and effective. After making a tiny incision in the back, we use a tube to gently push aside muscle to access the problem area of the spine. From there we use a laser, tiny camera, and other tools, fed through the tube to remove whatever tissue is pressing on the spine or nerves and causing your condition.

Bone Spurs in the Neck & Spine Can Be Treated with Gentle Outpatient Surgery at LSI

Bone spurs in the neck can be even more painful than they sound. Bone spurs, also known as osteophytes, are overgrowths of bone that can occur anywhere in the body. While bone spurs are smooth on the surface and do not hurt on their own, they can intrude on other tissue and cause significant discomfort. When bone spurs impinge on the neck and spine, this direct contact with major nerve roots results in severe pain, tingling, numbness, and weakness throughout the body.

Turn Back the Clock on Degenerative Disc Disease with a Gentle Outpatient Procedure

All of us, at one time or another, has wished we could go back in time to be our younger selves. This is especially true for anyone who suffers from degenerative disc disease, a condition marked by the changes that occur in the spine as we age. And, while aging is natural and normal, the pain of degenerative disc disease can greatly limit your ability to do the things you used to enjoy like walking, running, dancing, golfing, and so on. As the pain travels from your neck to your arms and your lower back to your legs, you feel like you will never be the same person you once were.

Sciatic Nerve Pain Relief Is Here Through Gentle Outpatient Procedures by Laser Spine Institute

You can’t sit and you can’t stand without a sharp, burning pain that radiates from your hip, goes through your leg, and lands at the sole of your foot. The pain gets worse at night when you’re trying to sleep and also when you laugh, cough or sneeze. What you’re experiencing is sciatic nerve pain and it has taken over your everyday life.

Sciatic nerve pain is most often caused by a bulging disc that presses on the nerve roots leading to the sciatic nerve, but it also can be caused by other spinal conditions such as spinal arthritis, bone spurs, and spinal stenosis. In addition to pain, the symptoms of sciatic nerve pressure can be tingling, weakness, and numbness in your leg.

Bulging Disc Treatments at Laser Spine Institute: Our Procedures Offer Proven Relief from Back Pain

One of the most common causes of chronic back pain is a bulging disc, which is also called a slipped disc or a ruptured disc. No matter what you call this condition, it can cause extreme pain in the legs, arms, back, and neck. Interestingly, when you suffer from a bulging disc, it is not the disc itself that hurts. Instead, the discomfort comes when the bulge in the disc presses upon nerve roots in the spine. This pressure can signal pain in various parts of the body, or it can interrupt nerve signals and cause tingling, numbness, and weakness in the arms and legs.

Sciatica Treatment Options from Laser Spine Institute: Rediscover Life without Pain

Sometimes, the nerves exiting the bottom of the spine can become pinched, causing extreme pain, burning, tingling, and numbness that radiates from the buttocks and travels down the legs. The common term for this condition is sciatica, and its relentless pain can make standing, sitting, and walking unbearable.
At one time, the last resort for sciatica treatment was very invasive open back surgery which meant a hospital stay, long recovery time, general anesthesia, and the risk of infection. Now, Laser Spine Institute offers minimally invasive outpatient procedures which can free patients from the severe pain and immobility of sciatica.

Spinal Arthritis Treatment Options from Laser Spine Institute: Get Your Life Back

Nearly 50 million Americans suffer from some form of arthritis today. One of the most painful forms of arthritis is spinal arthritis, a condition typically caused when protective cartilage between the bones (or vertebrae) of the spine wears out. Once the vertebrae lose their soft, lubricating cartilage, the ends of the vertebrae will rub against each other, leading to swelling, pain, and bone spurs that press on spinal nerves.
Eventually, spinal arthritis can make you feel frustrated and depressed because you are unable to do the simplest things like tie your shoes or walk a few steps. Initially, treatment options for spinal arthritis might involve medication, massage, and supplements, but patients often say that these treatments don’t last very long.
Laser Spine Institute offers more effective options for spinal arthritis sufferers - options that can relieve arthritis pain at its source.

Laser Back Surgery at Laser Spine Institute: Only the Best for Our Patients

The surgeons at Laser Spine Institute’s world class facilities have one mission: to provide the latest options in innovative laser back surgery available today to patients all across the globe. With total commitment to outstanding patient care, Laser Spine Institute now performs more minimally invasive spine procedures per month than any other spine facility in the world.

Micro Endoscopic Discectomy (MED)

Through advancements in modern surgical technology surgeons worldwide have started performing a surgical procedure called a micro endoscopic discectomy (MED). 

Kyphoplasty

A kyphoplasty procedure combines techniques used in a vertebroplasty and balloon catheter technology borrowed from angioplasty.  A kyphoplasty if performed to correct painful vertebral fractures caused by osteoporosis.

Discectomy Procedure

A discectomy is performed when a damaged or herniated disc needs to be removed from a patient’s spinal canal.  When a spinal disc becomes herniated or damaged, a small piece may break away or become dislodged. 

Vertebroplasty

A vertebroplasty procedure is attempted when conventional vertebral compression fracture treatment procedures fail a patient.  Failure may be indicated by minimal or no pain relief from analgesics or narcotic pain killers…

IDET (Intradiscal electrothermal therapy)

IDET (intradiscal electrothermal annuloplasty) is a new minimally invasive alternative performed using electrothermal catheters allowing for accurate control of cauterizing temperatures for damaged spinal discs

Spinal Stenosis Surgery

Surgery for spinal stenosis is most commonly accomplished through a laminectomy. A laminectomy is performed to relieve pressure from the spinal cord or spinal nerve roots.  The pressure could be caused by multiple complications such as, degenerative disc disease, traumatic injury to the spine, disc problems such as a herniated disc, or a tumor.  Once the pressure is relieved, painful symptoms will usually go away.

Spinal Fusion Surgery

The purpose of a spinal fusion is to eliminate motion causing pain in a vertebral segment.  By fusing the segment together and ceasing the movement the pain should decrease.  Spinal fusion surgery requires a bone graft to create the fusion. 

Cervical Spine Surgery

The section of the spine that runs up through your neck is known as the cervical spine.  It consists of seven vertebrae and eight pairs of spinal nerves that exit the foramen (C1 - C8).  Cervical herniated discs and cervical stenosis are the most common problems that occur in this region of the spine.

Back Surgery Recovery

After your surgery you will be well equipped with all the information you will need which will give you can idea of what to expect.  It is extremely important that you follow the guidelines you doctor has laid out for you if you expect to make a full recovery.

Lower Back Surgery

The most common back surgery to date is performed on the lower back. This is only natural seeing as how it is the lower back that supports the majority of our weight, and is more often then not the most abused part of the back.

Laser Back Surgery - Spine Care by Laser Spine Institute

Laser back surgery also referred to as laser spine surgery is a minimally invasive procedure that treats all sorts of upper and lower back conditions such as a pinched nerve, a herniated disc, spinal stenosis and many other back conditions.

Back Surgery Alternatives

Many people are left with a difficult decision to make, either attempt back surgery or live on with pain and a limited lifestyle.  Suffering for years with back pain is something that nobody wants to go through and for many it is not even a choice. However, there are some back surgery alternatives to look into before you decide to go ahead and undergo surgery.

Back Surgery

In most cases back surgery is an elective procedure.  Most often back surgery is not urgent but if the patients lifestyle is being diminished by their back condition, surgery may be considered once conservative methods have failed them.

Failed Back Surgery Syndrome

To be honest this actually is not really a syndrome. Failed back surgery syndrome commonly referred to as FBSS is a term applied to the thousands of people who have experienced failed back surgery.