While non-surgical methods such as chiropractic and medication provide fast relief from the pain caused by disc disorders like lumbar degenerative disc disease, they must be done regularly and under medical supervision to ensure maximum benefit. Surgery, on the other hand, allows you to have complete freedom from the pain and ensures true rehabilitation of your lower back. One such popular surgical procedure for lumbar disc disease and most disc injuries is spinal fusion.
What is spinal fusion?
To understand what spinal fusion is, you must first know what goes on when one has a disc disorder - especially one as severe as lumbar degenerative disc disease. This disease affects the vertebral discs, particularly on the outer edges. As daily activities like frequent bending and twisting and age take their toll on your body, your vertebrates succumb to a natural process of wear and tear. Activities like sports and other injuries to your back can speed up this process and may actually preempt it. This wear and tear process can cause an actual tear on the outer ring or edge of an intervertebral spine. The tear can cause the soft, central portion of the vertebra to bulge out. This tear in the disc ring may result in the release of inflammatory chemical mediators which may directly cause severe pain, even in the absence of nerve root compression.
Spinal fusion, as the term implies, is a procedure that fuses affected vertebrae together to prevent the protrusion of the spine's soft center out of the tear in the disc ring. It is designed to stop the motion at a painful vertebral segment, which will decrease the pain generated from the joint. Lumbar spinal fusion surgery also involves adding a bone graft to an area of the spine to set up an osteoblastic process. This is a biological response that causes the bone graft to grow between the two vertebrae and stop the motion at that segment.
Should you undergo spinal fusion?
While spinal fusion surgery can help you overcome your disc disorder and put a stop to chronic pain in your lower back, it is a major procedure and can cost a lot. Below are some tips that can help you decide whether spinal fusion is for you:
1.Discuss the procedure with your doctor.
Discuss the procedure with the doctor who is treating you for chronic lower back pain so he or she can correctly diagnose whether the pain you are experiencing is due to a disc disorder or excess fatigue or movement. Accurate diagnosis can help you form a good decision.
2.Consider the pros and cons.
There are two sides to every issue. Try to see the surgery from a positive and negative perspective and weigh the risks and benefits it can give you. Ask your doctor's opinion about the procedure and whether it will benefit you. Whenever possible ask for a second or even third opinion for other medical professionals who specialize in chronic pain and skeletal disorders.
3.Give alternative, non-surgical methods a try.
If the pain you feel is not that severe and if your doctor diagnosed your condition as a mild case, you may benefit more from non-surgical methods that aim to lessen the pain and rehabilitate your discs naturally. Heat therapies, exercise programs, chiropractic manipulations, and medications can all work together to reduce damage and slow down the degeneration of your discs.
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