Tag Archives: lower back injuries
When a patient has issues with scoliosis, fractured vertebrae, or any degenerative spine conditions such as cervical disk herniation it is sometimes necessary to have spinal fusion surgery.
During a traditional spinal fusion operation bone is harvested from the pelvis of the patient. Because there are various risks and issues with this method there is a lot of interest in the medical community to develop an alternative procedure. Researchers are working on developing a substitute for using the patients own bone as a graft for spinal fusion.
One issue with using the patients own bone is that it is painful and the surgery can potentially cause other complications such as infection, bleeding, or possibly long-term pain. Another issue is that sometimes the bone fails to fuse. The risk for failure to fuse is especially high for patients within certain risk categories. Overweight patients, smokers, and patients who have had multiple spinal surgeries are at a higher risk of fusion failure.
There are new developments in bone graft research that are supplying several types of graft substitutes. Some can be used as an option to the patients own bone, and some can be used in combination with it.
Lower back or, lumbar spinal injuries occur everyday. The severity and recovery of lower back injuries depend on the category of trauma, either low or high energy and the individual. Low energy injuries include falls and illnesses which cause deterioration over time. High energy injuries include high speed car accidents and industrial accidents. Individual health is also a consideration, a patient which has osteoporosis will have a different treatment plan and outlook than a younger individual with strong healthy bones. Injuries are then divided by the part of the lower back which is injured. The parts of the spinal cord in the lower back are numbered L1 at the top to L5 at the bottom of the spinal cord. Assessments are done of the functions around the spinal cord including discs, ligaments and muscles to determine extent of the injury. More often than not, injuries involving the spinal cord itself and discs will necessitate surgery to take undue pressure off of the spinal cord, align the cord correctly or to stabilize the injured area.
Surgical techniques to stabilize the spinal cord include spinal fusion and XLIF procedure. Spinal fusion bonds the bones together, many times using a bone graft, to permanently connect the vertebrae and stopping motion between the two or more vertebrae. It’s a safe procedure, which alleviates pain from chronic lower back pain, herniated disc, spinal cord disorders and broken vertebrae. Continue reading
