Back Surgery

Nerve root decompression surgery, also known as lumbar (lower back) decompression surgery is a surgical procedure performed to alleviate pain caused by pinched nerves (neural impingement).

During surgery a small portion of the bone or tissue over the nerve root is removed to relieve pressure on the spinal cord or nerve and give the nerve root more space, which in turn will reduce your pain.

The main lumbar decompression procedures are: laminectomy (a section of bone is removed from one of your spinal bones to relieve pressure on the affected nerve), discectomy (a damaged section of disc is removed) and spinal fusion (a bone graft to join two or more spinal bones together).

Lumbar decompression will be performed for many spinal problems including: spinal stenosis (narrowing spinal canal), a herniated disc, fracture or swelling.

Initially non-surgical treatment will be offered to treat your pain and discomfort. Surgery will be recommended if this is not successful.

Discectomy is a one of the nerve root decompression surgical procedures used to remove the damaged part of a ruptured, bulging or slipped disc in your spine. It is performed using minimally invasive or open surgery. If a disc tears of bursts the jelly like filling in the centre spills out and the torn disc can put pressure on a surrounding nerve or nerves or on the whole spinal cord, causing pain, tingling, numbness and weakness in your back, neck and legs.

A discectomy will be recommended if you have a slipped disc and the pain has not been relieved by non-surgical treatments such as rest, exercise, physiotherapy and medications.

Kyphoplasty is used to treat vertebral body fractures. These are small breaks in the bone that makes up the front part of the vertebra (called the vertebral body). Vertebral body fractures can lead to the collapse or compression of a spinal bone, causing the spine to shorten and curve forward. If this happens you’ll experience pain and may develop a kyphotic (hunched-over) deformity. They are mainly caused by thinning of bones, or osteoporosis.

In kyphoplasty, a balloon is inserted into the vertebra using a hollow needle and then inflated to expand the compressed vertebra to its normal height. This space is then filled with bone cement to stabilising the vertebra. The procedure is repeated for each affected vertebra. A kyphoplasty aims to restore the height of your vertebra and straighten out your spinal curve, relieve pain and prevent further fractures.

Vertebroplasty is a similar procedure to kyphoplasty just without the use of the balloon. In vertebroplasty bone cement is injected through the hollow needle into the fractured bone.

Each of the vertebrae in your spine has a set of facet joints and their function is to stabilise your back and allow your spine to move.

Facet joint injections can determine if your back pain is coming from your facet joints and if you would benefit from further treatment such as radiofrequency denervation. They can also help treat your neck or back pain that is caused by inflammation of your facet joints which can happen if your joints are worn down by conditions such as osteoarthritis.

Facet joint injections usually contain a local anaesthetic which will numb your pain and steroids to help reduce any swelling and inflammation. They are normally administered in an outpatient setting.