Type of Surgery
Information
Last updated: 11/24/2009
After the operation, the patient is lying flat and face down when he or she awakens. This position must be maintained for several days, except for occasional positional changes to avoid bedsores. There may be slight pain or stiffness in the...
back area.
Patients usually leave the hospital on the fourth or fifth day after surgery. They must:
- Avoid sitting for more than 15–20 minutes.
- Use a reclined chair.
- Avoid bending at the waist, twisting, or lifting heavy objects.
- Begin gentle walking (indoors or outdoors), and gradually increase exercise. Exercise should be continued for the next four weeks.
- Begin stationary biking or gentle swimming after two weeks.
- Sleep on a firm mattress.
- Slow down if they experience more than minor pain in the back or leg.
- Refrain from sitting in one place for an extended period of time (e.g., long car ride).
Patients should be able to resume normal activities in four to six weeks.
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Definition
One of the most common types of back surgery is disk removal (diskectomy), the removal of an intervertebral disk, the flexible plate that connects any two adjacent vertebrae in the spine. Intervertebral disks act as shock absorbers, protecting the brain and spinal cord from the impact produced by the body's movements.
Description
The surgery is done under general anaesthesia, which puts the patient to sleep and affects the whole body. Operating on the patient's back, the neurosurgeon or orthopedic surgeon makes an opening into the vertebral canal, and then moves the dura and the bundle of nerves called the "cauda equina" (horse's tail) aside, which exposes the disk. If a portion of the disk has moved from between the vertebrae out into the nerve canal, it is simply removed. If the disk itself has become fragmented and partially displaced, or not fragmented but bulging extensively, the surgeon will remove the bulging or displaced part of the disk and the part that lies in the space between the vertebrae.
— Carol A. Turkington
Other Information
New procedures like minimally invasive procedures are often subject to scrutiny, but I think that one of the biggest problems facing these innovative procedures is for people to understand exactly what we do.
-Dr. Michael Perry, Laser Spine institute
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