George PetersonSurgery can be frightening, especially if all other conservative treatments have proven futile. You may benefit from minimally invasive spinal surgery Washington, PA, at Steel City Spine and Orthopedic Center if you have chronic neck or back pain.
Everything you should learn about minimally invasive spine surgery
Minimally invasive spine surgery is an advanced technique of surgery that helps you avoid large incisions, minimizing bleeding, postoperative pain, and your recovery timeline. Dr. Idema and his professional team at Steel City Spine Orthopedic Center make one small incision and place specialized surgery instruments into the incision. They use advanced imaging technology to guide them during the procedure. Minimally invasive spine surgery demands advanced skills to achieve the expected results. The team can use minimally invasive techniques for several spine surgeries, including Foraminotomy, laminotomy, discectomy, laminectomy, and microdiscectomy.
During these procedures, your provider removes bone and tissue, compressing the nerves in your spine. Nerve compression is often due to disk herniations, bone spurs, and osteoarthritis in the facet joints. Minimally invasive stabilization surgery alleviates your symptoms by removing the damaged intervertebral disc and replacing it with an artificial but viable disk. In the recent past, spinal fusion and bone grafts were the standard approaches, but artificial disks are taking the spotlight because they allow free movement. Dr. Idema has years of experience performing minimally invasive spine surgery and focuses on alleviating your symptoms while ensuring you retain optimal spinal flexibility.
Upsides of minimally invasive spine surgery
If conservative treatments don’t offer much-deserved relief, you may be eligible for minimally invasive spine surgery. After diagnosis, your provider may recommend medication and physical therapy before suggesting surgery. Minimally invasive spine surgery has several advantages over traditional open surgery, and they include the following:
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Quick recovery
Spine surgery focuses on improving chronic pain that doesn’t respond to conservative treatments like medications. While open surgery requires a long recovery period, minimally invasive spine surgery shortens your recovery timeline by using small and fewer incisions, helping you embark on your daily activities as soon as possible.
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Less traumatic
Surgery usually results in a certain amount of body trauma that may take a long time to improve. In addition to recovering from the condition you’re seeking treatment for, you must recover from muscle and tissue damage due to surgery. Minimally invasive surgery minimizes muscle and tissue damage so that your body can focus its natural healing powers to heal the vertebrae, nerves, and disk.
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Less painful
Less muscle and tissue damage and smaller incisions mean less pain immediately after surgery and the following recovery days or weeks. With this technique, you’ll require less pain medication minimizing the chances of becoming dependent on it.
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Fewer complications
All surgeries carry risks; however, minimally invasive spine surgery minimizes the number of complications you’re likely to face. The complications you are likely to get with this procedure are only two: infection at the incision site and negative reaction to anesthesia.
Call Dr. Idema or book an appointment online to explore minimally invasive spine surgery.
Hugh Hay
