Woodland Hospital offers a wide range of treatments for back and neck pains from injections through to complex spinal surgery. Your back or neck care specialist has access to the latest equipment to help diagnose the most likely cause of your symptoms. They will discuss with you your treatment options and recommend an individual care plan.
The Back Pain Assessment Clinic at Woodland Hospital offers fast and accurate diagnosis, expert advice and where appropriate, quick access to treatment for back pain, neck pain and sciatica. Unfortunately not all back and neck pains can be treated but you will be offered options to manage your pain and assist your general wellbeing.
Pain relieving injections may relieve your back and neck pain and can also complement other back and neck pain treatments and therapies. Additionally they can provide important information about your pain and clarify diagnosis. Injections provide direct delivery of steroids or anaesthetic into your joints, ligaments, muscles or around your nerves. These injections may provide relief of pain and reduce inflammation whilst also allowing other therapies a better chance of working such as physiotherapy.
At Woodland Hospital, there are two injections commonly used which are performed as day case procedures so you can usually leave within a few hours.
Facet joints are weight bearing joints in the spine where two vertebrae sit on top of each other. They can become inflamed and painful. In some cases facet joint injections can relieve this pain and inflammation. They are often used as part of a combined therapy programme, including physiotherapy.
Persistent back and leg pain can sometimes be linked to a trapped or inflamed nerve in your spinal column. A nerve root block can be injected into your back using diagnostic guidance to relieve this pain.
An epidurogram is a diagnostic procedure used to isolate the individual nerves in your spine, build a picture of your back and determine how effective the nerve root drugs will be. It involves injecting dye into your spine under x-ray guidance.
A wide range of surgical procedures are available at Woodland Hospital from lumbar decompression surgeries, including lumbar discectomy and lumbar laminectomy, to spinal fusion.
Often a combination of back surgeries are performed for example a lumbar laminectomy together with a lumbar discectomy or a spinal fusion following lumbar decompression surgery. It is important to understand the type of surgery your orthopaedic surgeon or neurosurgeon recommends for you, the benefits, potential risks and expected recovery time.
Your consultant will discuss the procedure in detail and will be happy to answer any questions that you may have. Spinal and neck surgery is performed to relieve pressure on a nerve root or the spinal cord, to strengthen and stabilise two or more adjacent vertebrae or to reduce a deformity such as scoliosis.
Procedures include:
Spinal surgery is a surgical treatment to manage a range of problems associated with your spine. It diagnoses and treats spinal disorders and conditions to provide pain relief, improve functionality, and avoid permanent impairment.
Spinal surgery is used to treat:
Neurosurgeons and orthopaedic surgeons who specialise in spinal surgery perform back surgery.
Back surgery is considered when conservative treatments have not worked and your pain remains persistent and is impacting the quality of your life. It involves decompressing, moving, fixing, and replacing vertebral structures to relieve back pain.
There is some debate as to which is the most common spine surgery. Often the most frequently performed spinal surgeries are carried out together such as spinal decompression and fusion and microdiscectomy with lumbar decompression.
The three most common spine surgeries are:
Additional spinal surgeries include: vertebroplasty, kyphoplasty, foraminotomy, disc replacement, and interlaminar implant.
The cost of a spinal surgery with Ramsay Health Care will depend on your spinal condition or injury, your spinal procedure, the diagnostic tests required, and your chosen Ramsay hospital.
Following your consultation with a spinal surgeon, you will receive a written cost quote. This quotation is guaranteed for 60 days and includes unlimited aftercare.
Ramsay is recognised by all major medical insurers. Most schemes cover spinal surgery. We advise you to obtain written authorisation from your medical insurance provider before your procedure.
We have a number of finance options to pay for your spinal surgery. These include: interest-free finance with no deposit and monthly instalments at 0% interest, a one-off pre-agreed payment for All-inclusive Total Care that comes with unlimited aftercare, and pay-as-you-go that offers flexible funding to pay as and when costs arise.
The recovery process after a spinal surgery will depend on the exact surgery you have, the severity of your back condition, your pre-surgery fitness level, and your age. You should follow your spinal surgeon’s advice for recovery.
Recovery after a discectomy is generally shorter than a laminectomy or fusion surgery.
Full recovery after a microdiscectomy can take up to six weeks. Most people leave the hospital the same day or within 24 hours. A physiotherapist will give you advice on exercises to improve the strength and flexibility of the muscles around your spine. Exercising your spine will help you to recover sooner. You can expect to be off work for a week or two or longer if your job involves heavy lifting.
After a laminectomy or spinal fusion, you can go home after about one to four days. A physiotherapist will work with you to help you safely regain strength and movement. Most people go back to work after four to eight weeks, providing their job isn't too strenuous. If you have a strenuous job or it has lots of driving, you may need to stay off work for three to six months.
We will arrange a follow-up appointment with your spinal surgeon to see how you are getting on after your surgery.
Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction is a surgical procedure designed to repair a torn or injured ACL, a crucial ligament in the knee. It involves using a graft of new tissue, typically a tendon, taken from another part of your knee to restore stability.
A shoulder arthroscopy is a minimally invasive surgical procedure that involves the use of a small camera, called an arthroscope. It aims to diagnose and treat various conditions affecting the shoulder joint, such as inflammation, injuries, or damaged tissues, and perform necessary surgical interventions.
Back pain is discomfort in the spine, often due to strain, injury or lifestyle. The pain can be associated with stiffness, muscle spasms and reduced motion. Explore causes, treatments, and preventative measures for a healthier back.
Bunion surgery is foot surgery performed to realign or remove deformed bones in your big toe and foot caused by a bunion.
Carpal tunnel is nerve compression in the wrist causing pain and numbness. Explore carpal tunnel surgery, a procedure relieving pressure on the median nerve in the wrist to improve hand function and reduced discomfort.
Surgery to remove scar-like tissue from under the skin of the fingers and palm of the hand.
Hand and wrist surgery is broad ranging orthopaedic specialty. It is normally performed by an orthopaedic consultant with a special interest in hands and wrists to treat several injuries or damages
Surgery to remove the damaged ball and socket of the hip and replace with an artificial ball and socket made of metal, plastic, ceramic, or a combination of these materials.
An arthroscopy allows your surgeon to see inside your knee using a camera inserted through small cuts in the skin.
Knee replacement is knee surgery to repair worn arthritic knee joints or knee injuries using an artificial knee joint to help reduce pain and restore movement in your knee.
Lumbar discectomy treatment is the removal of the herniated or bulging part of an intervertebral disc in your lower back. It is performed to relieve the pressure the bulging disc is exerting on nearby spinal nerves.
Hip arthroscopy is a minimally invasive procedure that allows your surgeon to see inside your hip using a camera inserted through small cuts in the skin. It is used to examine, diagnose and treat problems that are causing pain and/or restricted movement in your hip.
Lumbar microdiscectomy surgery, also called microdecompression or microdiscectomy, is a minimally invasive procedure that relieves sciatica leg pain.
Spinal decompression is a type of surgery used to give your spine nerves more space and relieve their compression. “Decompression” usually means removing tissue that is compressing a spinal nerve.
Revision total hip replacement is hip surgery to repair your artificial hip joint, when your prosthesis has become damaged over time due to normal wear and tear or infection, so that your hip can function normally again.
Shoulder and elbow surgery treats pain and stiffness in your upper limbs that may be due to injury, wear and tear, or a long-term condition. It aims to restore the full use of your shoulder or elbow without pain.
Rotator cuff surgery is shoulder surgery performed to repair torn and damaged tendons and muscles in the rotator cuff of your shoulder and, aims to alleviate shoulder pain and improve functionality.
Surgery for problems of the small toes aims to correct the deformity and prevent it from interfering with your daily activities if simple measures haven’t been successful.
Total shoulder replacement is shoulder surgery to relieve pain, restore motion, and increase strength and function in your shoulder.
Trigger finger is a common and painful condition that restricts your finger or thumb movement. It affects the tendons in your finger or thumb and causes them to lock or catch as they bend towards your palm. Trigger finger release surgery is performed to widen the tunnel that your tendons pass through in your finger or thumb and to resolve a condition known as trigger finger.
ROSA, the robotic surgical assistant that helps your surgeon to perform your knee replacement surgery. The ROSA knee system puts even greater accuracy into the experienced hands of your surgeon to make sure your knee replacement fits and functions as precisely as possible.
A partial knee replacement, also known as unicompartmental knee replacement, is surgery that replaces only one damaged compartment in your knee with implants.
Revision knee replacement is surgery to re-do part or all of your previous knee replacement.
Woodland Hospital, part of Ramsay Health Care marked their 30th anniversary on the 4th June 2020. Our 30th celebrations have been postponed due to current restrictions, however we celebrated this special milestone the best way we could.