A really common surgery for treating a tight lower back area is called a Decompressive Laminectomy. What the doctors try to do is basically give the squeezed nerves in your back a more room by taking out a piece of the backbone that’s at the backside; the surgery can take a good chunk of time, like several hours. So it’s a good idea for anyone getting it done to know the basic steps of how this decompressive laminectomy works.
Overview
As people get older, their back’s health usually starts to get worse. In lumbar spinal stenosis, the space in the spine gets smaller bit by bit; this squishes the nerves that link the spine and muscles together.
While spinal stenosis in the lower back is most common, there are other parts of the spine where stenosis can occur. To be more exact, lumbar spinal stenosis occurs in the five vertebrae that are connected to the pelvis.
People who have lumbar spinal stenosis often have signs of osteoarthritis too. That’s the main reason for this sickness–but it can happen because of other things too, such as when someone injures their spine, has issues with their bones, or has problems after having an operation, along with other possible causes.
Now, let’s take a look at the main goals of this surgery and the methods used for decompressive laminectomy.
Main Goals of Decompressive Laminectomy
The main goals of this surgery are to provide the patient relief using the following techniques:
Restoring Leg Function
When someone has lumbar stenosis, they can’t move around as much because it hurts and their leg muscles feel really weak; the surgery they do for it, called decompressive laminectomy, is supposed to take the pressure off the nerves and help with the pain and weakness so the person can move normally again.
Relieving Compression of The Nerve Roots
When stenosis occurs in the lower back, the spinal cord, along with other parts of the spinal structure gets compressed. When this occurs, tWhen stenosis occurs in the lower back, the spinal cord, along with other parts of the spinal structure gets compressed. When this occurs, the patient may feel pain while walking forwards or moving their leg forward. Also, the same applies to the spine, and when the patient bends forward, they feel a sharp pain. The techniques used for decompressive laminectomy by a pain management Washington, DC specialist aim to widen the spinal canal to stop the compression on the nerve roots.
You must know that doctors do decompressive laminectomy surgery to make leg pain and weakness better so your legs can work like they should–but after you’re cut open and repaired , you might still get aching in your lower back. That’s ‘cause there are other things that make your back hurt which might need more doctor intervention to deal with.
Different Types of Decompressive Laminectomy
The approach used by the surgeon depends on the amount of laminal to be removed, and the method used to decompress the nerves. The different types of lumbar decompressive laminectomy are as follows:
Bilateral Laminectomy
In this technique, the lamina is removed from both sides of the spine. This is accompanied by either widening the foramina inside the vertebrae or leaving it as, depending upon the patient’s condition. Also, the adjacent bone and tissue are removed in most cases to allow the nerves to relieve pressure.
Unilateral Laminectomy
This method means you don’t have to rest as long after the operation because the doctors don’t have to cut as much; they take out a portion of the lamina on one side so the nerves aren’t squeezed anymore. Sometimes they might also take out items nearby if you need them to.
With unilateral laminectomy, minimally invasive surgery is also possible. This is generally done by using an endoscope and leads to much lower blood loss, recovery time, and preserver more tissue. Both types of laminectomy, whether open or minimal, have almost the same success rates.
In some cases, the vertebrae may have to be completely or partially removed from the lumbar region. Most surgeons consider a spinal fusion to be the best choice in these cases.
Spinal Fusion
Arthrodesis or spinal fusion is needed after the process used for decompressive laminectomy to make those regions of the spine stable. Spinal fusion can be done in different ways and proves to be helpful for most patients.
In some cases, the bone is extracted from another part of the body or from a donor. Next, these are attached to two vertebrae in order to keep them connected. Over time, this graft is intended to make the new bones grow.
If this does not seem viable, the surgeons may opt for instrumented fusion. In this process metal brackets, screws, hooks, plates, wires, and other instruments are used to hold the adjacent vertebrae together. This leads to natural bone formation over time between the mechanically jointed parts.
For fixing spinal stenosis, docs might use several ways to do the surgery. It really comes down to what health issues you have going on, if you’ve got any extra bone matters, how bad the nerves are being compressed, and how adept the surgeon is at this particular operation.
Benefits and Potential Risks of The Surgery
Before you get spine surgery, there are a few things you need to think about. Here are the good parts and the possible bad parts of having a decompressive laminectomy surgery:
Benefits
After this surgery, a lot of people feel much better; they say their lower back doesn’t hurt as much anymore and their legs aren’t as weak.
Surgery works better for people who don’t respond well to nonsurgical methods to alleviate the pain. Even after the duration of 8-10 years, patients report being much more active and satisfied with the process.
Risks
Surgery on your spine to fix it being too tight can sometimes have issues if you already have health problems or if something goes wrong during the operation. It might make your backbone less stable or cause pain that lasts a long time because of different things.
Plus, the person might need another surgery to join their spine bones if the first one didn’t fully work. It’s important to remember that all surgeries, even the kind where they take out a part of the bone to give the nerves more space, have dangers–but usually, we can keep those risks in check.
Final Words
Before deciding to have surgery for narrow lower back nerves, it’s always suggested by doctors to first try ways to manage pain without surgery.
But, in case you do need the surgery, it is very effective and the reports show that patients can lead normal lives even after long periods of time. Surgery for lumbar spinal stenosis relieves pain and numbness from the lower back and legs and should help patients with very limited mobility as a result of the disease.
