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Treatment for Back Injuries
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After a doctor performs a physical examination, he or she may decide what kind of treatment you should receive. There are two main forms of treatment:
1. Physical therapy and pain medications
Physical therapy mainly consists of exercises to strengthen the back and/or condition the back for increased activity. If the back injury is preventing the patient from working, often times the therapist will try to simulate the job activities of the patient. Pain medication may be ordered as part of a general conservative treatment plan.
Often the medications ease the pain enough to allow the patient to resume normal activity and gradually strengthen their back. Usually if therapy and medication does not relieve the pain then surgery is considered. The amount of time recommended for conservative treatment such as physical therapy and pain medicine depends on the severity of the injury and the opinions of your doctor
2. Surgery
The three basic types of back surgery are:
- Laminotomy or laminectomy: These surgeries involve removing a part or all of the lamina; the lamina is the back part of the bone over the spinal canal. The laminotomy procedure will remove a portion of the lamina to relieve pressure on a nerve or allow the surgeon access to a disk that's pressing on a nerve. A laminectomy involves removal of the entire lamina.
- Diskectomy: This procedure involves the removal of a portion of a disk to relieve pressure on a nerve.
- Fusion: Spinal fusion permanently connects two or more vertebrae in your spine. This procedure improves stability, and can correct a deformity or treat pain. To fuse the spine, small pieces of extra bone are needed to fill the space between two vertebrae. The extra bone may come from a bone bank or your own body. Fusions are often performed after other surgeries are not successful.
Today, less invasive back surgery techniques such as these are becoming more common:
- Vertebroplasty: This procedure involves injecting bone cement into fractured and collapsed vertebrae. The cement hardens and then seals which makes it possible to stabilize fractures and relieve pain.
- Kyphoplasty: This procedure involves inserting a balloon-like device to expand compressed vertebra and injecting bone cement, similar to vertebroplasty.