Risks And Rewards Of Spinal Stenosis Surgery
Surgery is one word that can strike fear in anyone’s heart, most specially if the words are spinal stenosis surgery. Touch the SPINE? Won’t that mean paralysis? And plenty of pain? Thankfully, it’s the last of the choices of a long line of alternative, non-invasive treatments before this stage is reached.
When everything else fails, from physical therapy to bulging disc treatments, that’s the only time doctors will resort to spinal stenosis surgery. When there is already a threat of medicine addiction because higher dosages don’t work anymore, the doctor will broach this idea. The surgery can have its risks but it eases the excruciating back pain, which is what the patient wants.
First, if he hasn’t already done so, the doctor will put you through a battery of tests to pin point the exact location of the area affected and the specific vertebrae that are damaged. The damage can actually spread over several areas. The tests also allow the physicians to determine how narrow the spinal canal is and whether it is genetically inherited, or caused by another disease such as Paget’s , or if it’s simply old age.
Second, the risk factors involved in this kind of surgery are studied. If surgery could tear the membrane that covers the spinal cord or cause the brain to deteriorate or even injure a vein, then all pros and cons would be evaluated.
Third, the amount of damage itself is studied. The doctor may well choose to do selected surgery if there are large and small areas affected. They may well to just operate on the worst parts and see if there is improvement from there.
Last, the patient himself is evaluated for surgery. If he is elderly or in bad physical condition, the spinal stenosis surgery procedure is scrapped. No good surgeon will put procedure over a patient’s life. If the patient is healthy apart from the stenosis, it is only the type of anesthetics that need discussion.
The recovery period after spinal stenosis surgery is not quick, either. You may actually feel you’re in worse condition than before you were operated on. You’ll also need to avoid the risks of additional injury in accidents or you may need to use a cane or walker afterward. But all the risks are worth it if you end up pain free. Put into that perspective, wouldn’t spinal stenosis surgery be a good risk for you to take then?
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