Many of us suffer from back pain. For some of us, we choose to live through the anguish of constant flare-ups, letting back pain become a permanent burden. Others try to find ways to treat lower back pain and relieve some of the pain with special seat cushions and sitting in chairs with special lumbar support.
Up until fairly recently, a popular surgical procedure for treating collapsed or bulged discs was fusion. Spinal fusion surgery entails the fusing of two cervical discs together with bone grafts in order to prevent disc slippage. Usually, the patient must give up a degree of mobility in order to be without back pain. Today, however, there are treatments for bulging or herniated discs that have shown promise in both alleviating pain and allowing patients to live a normal, pain-free life.
Disc replacement is a back pain treatment that can give people a natural range of motion and mobility, while either partially or totally replacing the damaged disc with an artificial one. Artificial discs will provide the patient with the necessary separation between the vertebrae and completely alleviate any pain associated with bulging discs. The patient will be able to bend, turn and twist with virtually no pain associated with the lower back. Furthermore, patients who receive artificial discs can recover and return to work more quickly than patients who receive spinal fusion surgery.
A spine surgeon in Chennai can replace a person's damaged discs by a fairly straightforward surgical procedure. The spinal surgeon must have access to the front of the spinal column, so an incision is made in the patient's abdomen. After separating the internal organs and gaining access to the front of the spine, the surgeon will remove the damaged disc material. The new disc, which is made out of either a plastic or polyethylene material between two metal plates, is placed into the spinal column in place of the removed disc and anchored to the vertebrae. The spine surgeon closes the incision and the recovery process begins.
Artificial disc replacement surgery is fairly new in the United States, but it is not unlike knee replacement or hip replacement surgery. The lifespan of the artificial discs could be 15 to 20 years, depending on the amount of strain a person puts on them. With regular x-ray follow-ups, the patient should be free of lower back pain for several years. Physical therapy should also be done in the weeks immediately following artificial disc replacement surgery.
Pain management exercise and a healthy diet should ease the burden on a patient's back after surgery. The stomach muscles need to be strengthened in order to ease the burden on the spine. Carrying excess weight will cause unnecessary strain on the back and could eventually re-damage the area.
Consult a spine surgeon to see if artificial disc replacement is a viable option to treat and relieve your lower back pain.
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