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Hello and Welcome to the One Care Medical Center, we are full stack orthopedic hospital in Coimbatore and in this post we are going to discuss on Herniated Disc surgery.
Read on!
Your backbone is composed of bones and cartilage. The bones are called vertebrae, and the cartilage in between each vertebra is a disc. These are your intervertebral discs, which help provide support and strength for your backbone.
Herniated discs happen when your annulus fibrosis gets damaged. This can happen near the lower back (the lumbar region) or closer to the neck (the cervical region). The damage may interfere with the surrounding nerves, producing pain. Yearly, around 0.5% to 2% of adults from ages 20 to 49 experience a ruptured disc.
Herniated discs can heal on its own. However, if the pain fails to subside within two weeks even without surgical treatments, surgery may be recommended, especially if it is interfering with important nerves in your body.
Possible Procedures
Endoscopic Spine Surgery – This involves making a small incision near the herniated disc. A surgeon will insert an endoscope to take out the part of the disc that was damaged.
Open discectomy – Instead of a small incision, the surgeon will cut a larger opening to take out the damaged section of your herniated disc.
Disc Core Surgery – This will target the disc’s core instead of its outer layer. By removing the core of the disc, it will interfere less with the surrounding nerves.
Laminectomy/Laminotomy – Removal of a part of or the entire lamina, which protects the spinal canal. These can be lumbar, to lessen the pain in the leg, or cervical, to lessen upper body pain.
Spinal fusion – Connects the surrounding bones with screws. These are for post-laminotomies.
Artificial disc surgery – An artificial disc will replace the herniated disc.
Recovery timeline
Recovery from herniated disc surgery is often faster if the surgery is done earlier. Most patients can go home immediately after their surgery, or at least within the day of the surgery. After your surgery, you will be advised to avoid these following actions for four weeks:
Even though these do not happen often, it is still best to be aware of possible risks, such as infection, damage to the spine lining, bleeding, nerve injury, and herniated disc recurrence.
Surgery is not the only option. There are pain medications and physical therapies that can assist the healing of herniated discs. There are also treatments such as numbing medicines and nerve root to alleviate the pain.
While herniated discs can be painful, there are plenty of ways to treat it. Surgery is often the most efficient method, but whether it is recommended for you depends on the intensity of your pain.
Recovery from surgery takes around four weeks and can be assisted by physical therapy. If you are experiencing pain from a herniated disc, contact your doctor immediately.
