What You Need To Know About Minimally Invasive Surgery For Spinal Stenosis Treatment

Posted on: 24 October 2022

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Spinal surgery is a scary prospect for anyone. Many people picture large incisions and even longer recoveries. In moderate to advanced cases of spinal stenosis, your doctor may recommend spinal surgery. Here's what you need to know to see if minimally invasive spinal surgery might be right for you: 

What Is Spinal Stenosis

Spinal stenosis is a common condition where the interior of your spinal canal is too small. The spinal canal narrows and applies pressure to your spinal cord. Typically, this condition becomes more common as people age, but it can affect anyone. 

Injuries, tumors, and arthritis are the leading causes of spinal column narrowing. Typically spinal stenosis causes few symptoms, but once symptoms occur the symptoms often worsen with time. 

Symptoms of more advanced cases of spinal stenosis include numbness, tingling, pain, and loss of bowel control. These symptoms greatly affect your quality of life and lead many patients with spinal stenosis to seek treatment options.

Often, doctors prescribe treatments like physical therapy, NSAIDs, and injections to treat spinal stenosis. However, as the narrowing progresses, these treatments can lose effectiveness and surgery becomes necessary. 

What Is Minimally Invasive Spinal Surgery

If your spinal stenosis has reached the stage where you're considering surgery, you may be interested in minimally invasive spinal surgery. 

Typically traditional back surgery is quite invasive. Depending on what your situation calls for, your doctor will often make a long incision to access your spinal column. Your surgeon may also remove tissue and muscle depending on your back's needs, and there could be significant blood loss. Afterward, traditional back surgery often sees long recovery times. 

In contrast, minimally invasive spine surgeries use smaller, less invasive incisions. Your surgeon will use a tube to access the surgery site. This tube allows your surgeon to move muscles out of the way instead of having them cut or removed. 

With spinal stenosis, your surgeon will use this tube access to widen the area around your spinal cord. This process could include removing tumors or bone spurs that have grown in the area. This surgery could also include fusing areas of your spinal column. However, the surgery type will depend on the best way to treat your specific case of spinal stenosis. 

The Benefits Of Minimally Invasive Spinal Surgery

There are many benefits of choosing a minimally invasive spinal surgery over a traditional back surgery. Due to the smaller incisions used during a minimally invasive spinal surgery, less blood loss occurs, leading to faster healing. These smaller incisions also lead to a reduced risk of infection.

For more benefits specific to your case of spinal stenosis, you should explore minimally invasive spinal surgery options with your doctor to see if they're right for you.

For more information, contact a local business, like The Anand Spine Group.