Low Back Pain, also known as Lumbago, affects over 70% of people during their lives and around half of all pregnant women suffer from the ailment. Low back pain is the second most common reason, after the common cold that people need to miss days at work due to illness and accounts for over 3.7 million physician visits per year in the United States. Low back pain is typically involves a range of symptoms including pain, muscle tension or stiffness, and is focused on the area of the back between the shoulder blades and the buttocks. Low back pain can affect people whose job involves a lot of lifting and carrying of heavy objects or those who spend much of their time standing or sitting in one position or who need to bend over a lot.
Patients whose lower back pain cannot be controlled by medicine or other treatments, such as physiotherapy, may need to undergo spinal fusion surgery. Spinal fusion surgery is designed to stabilize and treat the spine and involves some of the spinal vertebrae being fused together to prevent movement occurring between them. The operation provides support and additional stability in the spine, but prevents natural movement between the vertebrae that have been operated on after the procedure. Spinal fusion does put excess stress on the vertebrae above and below the fusion, which can cause additional problems for the patient in the future. Patients should be aware that because spinal fusion surgery is one of the more dangerous surgical procedures it should only be used when other less invasive treatments have been attempted.
A lumbar laminectomy may also be required when spinal fusion surgery takes place. Laminectomy is better known as decompression and involves the removal of the a small piece of the spine so that the surgeon can reach nerves which lay within the spinal column. The surgery may not prevent symptoms from returning in the future. Laminectomy can last for up to three hours where as spinal fusion procedure can take between two and twelve hours, depending on how extensive the surgery is and exactly what technique is used by the surgeon. Laminectomy usually requires an overnight hospital stay and may require the patient to spend several days in hospital. As with spinal fusion surgery this is also a potentially dangerous method of treatment and there is a risk that nerves may be damaged during the procedure. Patients considering such a treatment should make sure that a medical professional explains to them how the operation works, what the risks are, and how the surgery will affect their quality of life in the future. By fully understanding the risks and outcomes, patients are better equipped to make informed decision about their treatment options.
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