Spine surgery might resolve your back condition that you are facing and also reduce its symptoms to some extent. Whether you have got a chronic back pain, scoliosis, spinal stenosis or a herniated disc, undergoing surgery can be your only move to move on with a normal life.
keep moving forward as I break-down some of the most common types of spine surgeries so you could be aware of what’s happening in your first meeting with a spine surgeon.
4 Main Types Of Spine Surgeries
Here are the 4 main types of spine surgeries and in each spine surgery, there are variations to treat a patient’s specific spine condition or symptom.
Discectomy
A Discectomy is also known as a herniated disc surgery in layman language. It involves taking out the material or the fluid that is causing load and pressure on the nerve root and the spinal column. Basically, the whole surgery is performed for removal of the portion of the herniated intervertebral disc that is responsible for the extra strain on the spinal cord.
Removing part of the herniated intervertebral disc is important as it relieves the patient from weakness, numbness, pain, balance issues, mobility and stability issues.
There are variations to this surgery. One variant of this surgery is a minimal surgical operation known as microdiscectomy. It involves the removal of the nuclear pulposus through laser treatment or traditionally with the use of a microscope.
A percutaneous discectomy involves the removal of the disc part using the suction method through the probe and a small incision.
A discectomy isn’t performed on a specific part of the spine. Instead, it can be performed on various part. However, this type of spine surgery is usually carried out to remove the herniated portion of the disc from the lower back.
Laminectomy
Laminectomy is a decompression surgery performed to cut away a spinal bone near your column to expose the spinal canal. The aim of the surgery is to release pressure from the nerve roots of the spinal cord.
The pressure and compression caused by the ligament or can be the root cause of your leg and back pain. Compressed nerves can be very painful for a human and relieving pressure from these nerves can improve the functions and alleviate pain immediately.
Spinal Fusion
If you have a spinal degeneration disease or scoliosis, the chances are, you have spinal alignment issues. Spinal fusion might be recommended as the ‘last’ treatment if you are diagnosed with congenital scoliosis, neuromuscular scoliosis or degenerative scoliosis.
In the spinal fusion, two or more bones are places together with plates, screws and metal plates. This surgery is the only permanent solution to correct irregular spinal alignment. It stabilizes the spine. In fact, it corrects its alignment by 50% to 70%.
Kyphoplasty
Kyphoplasty is performed to treat compressional fractures in the spine. When bone fractures are left untreated when can experience excruciating pain followed by deformity or a ‘hunch’. These compressional fractures are mostly caused by injuries and are long-lasting.
In kyphoplasty, bone cement is placed into the spine fracture through a long needle. In most cases, a balloon is inserted to uplift the bones. After that, bone cement is placed into the heightened space.
This surgery does not only strengthen the bone but prevents future encounter from excruciating pain.
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