Spinal Decompression Resources
Resources
Most herniated discs will heal within one to six months on there own. Treatment goals at this stage are to relieve pain and the weakness or numbness in the leg or lower back.
There are many different conditions that affect our back and cause back pain. The area affected by the patients back pain is dependent on the physical condition that is causing the back pain.
With most back problems, self care measures usually help to combat a portion of the pain. It really sounds simple and obvious but not many people think about it. While your back is healing, don’t do the activities that cause pain.
Muscle elasticity, tone, and bone strength tend to weaken as we age. The discs in your back begin to lose fluid and flexibility decreasing their ability to act as shock absorbers for the vertebrae.
Degenerative disc disease of the spine is one of the more common lumbar spine disorders. Spinal stenosis, which is a narrowing of the spinal canal that houses the spinal cord and nerve roots, can be developed through degenerative disc disease.
Treatments
The facet joint is like any other joint in your body - it has cartilage that lines the joint, (this allows the bone to glide smoothly over one another) and a capsule surrounding the joint.
Percutaneous endoscopic laser discectomies are performed without the need for general anesthesia in an outpatient surgical setting.
When you fuse an area of the spine you lose mobility in that particular region. The spine is very mobile and fusing vertebrae together causes extreme wear and tear on the vertebrae (and discs) above and below the area of the fusion because they are trying to compensate for the area that is now immobile.
After a local anesthetic is administered, a small incision is made and a round Depuy tube is put into the incision. A series of tubes of increasing size are placed over this first tube, one at a time, to slowly create a small opening to the spine.
A laminotomy is also a procedure used to remove the ligamentum flavum, a ligament in the spinal canal that can thicken to the point where it is actually compressing on the spinal cord, attributing to spinal stenosis.
Symptoms
When a bone spur or other condition in the back impinges on a nerve cutting the flow of nutrient rich blood to the affected area, over time muscular weakness and diminished reflexes may become apparent.
When a nerve in the back becomes compressed from a herniated disc, the blood flow to the affected part of the body is limited. This will cause many different symptoms, most notably is a tingling sensation.
Pain felt in the buttocks and hips that radiates down the legs and into the feet is one of the main symptoms for sciatica.
Arthritis in the facet joint leads to stiffness and a reduction in the affected persons flexibility.
When arthritis occurs in the back it will often lead to back pain.