How Pregnancy Increases Your Risk for Sciatica
While you know pregnancy changes your body, you may not realize it also increases your risk of sciatic nerve pain. Find out what you can expect here.
Laser technology comes with a lot of benefits when applied to fixing back problems. Surgeons who use lasers are able to make smaller incisions and reduce the risk for blood loss, scarring, and infections.
Here, we asked Dr. Bonaventure Ngu, our expert at Premier Spine Institute, to highlight which conditions can be treated with laser technology.
Growths or tumors that appear on the spine can cause a lot of pain, discomfort, and, in severe cases, paralysis, as they put pressure on the surrounding nerves and tissues.
Fortunately, less than 1% of Americans develop growths that are cancerous. Most tumors are benign and easy to remove using advanced laser technology.
With the help of lasers, Dr. Ngu can repair compression fractures caused by osteoporosis. To add support to the fractured bones in the spine, Dr. Ngu places a cement that hardens and strengthens the spine while allowing it to stay flexible.
Slipped discs, or herniated discs, develop when the gel-like nucleus of a spinal disc pushes through the edge of the disc, spilling into the spinal canal and damaging nearby nerves.
Severely herniated discs can cause debilitating symptoms such as pain that prevents you from walking, loss of control over your bowels, and muscle weakness and numbness. Dr. Ngu can use laser surgery to remove the damaged disc and replace it with a synthetic one.
Sciatica is a condition caused by compression or irritation of the sciatic nerve in the lower back. Sometimes the nerve gets compressed by a herniated disc or irritated by a growth on the spine, a bone spur, or damage from diabetes.
Depending on the cause of your sciatica and the severity of your symptoms, Dr. Ngu may recommend laser surgery to remove the herniated disc that’s putting pressure on the nerve or to remove part of the vertebral bone to ease pressure on the nerve.
Spinal stenosis is the narrowing of the spinal canal. When the canal becomes narrow, pain can occur due to pressure placed on nearby nerves. Dr. Ngu can enlarge the canal via laser surgery, decompressing the nerves.
Bone spurs are growths of bone tissue that develop on the ends of spinal vertebrae. These are commonly found in patients who suffer from oesteoarthitis, engage in repetitive movements on a daily basis, or are obese. Bone spur discomfort and pain often responds well to conservative treatments. However, if you don’t see any improvements, Dr. Ngu can remove them surgically.
Although surgery is a last resort used only when all conservative treatments have failed, Dr. Ngu ensures that our patients who opt for surgery are informed about the best technologies available and the newest ways to reduce complications and speed up recovery.
Contact us to schedule an appointment and find out whether laser spine surgery could be the solution to your back problems.
