Back Surgery

For some people back surgery is required due to trauma from a car accident, sports injury, or other event but in a large number of cases back surgery is chosen by a patient to improve quality of life when other, alternative, and conventional, treatment approaches have failed to work or have stopped being effective.  

There are many different types of back surgery including:

• spinal fusion
• laminectomy
• discectomy
• minimally invasive back surgery

The cost of back surgery can vary considerably, as do the recovery times and possible side-effects.  Understanding how back surgery for sciatica differs from back surgery for arthritis, and how your specific circumstances will affect the availability and efficacy of surgical options means that you will be in a better position to make an informed decision to take control of your back health.

Back surgery complications are like those of any surgery intervention and carries the usual risks, such as potential infection, bleeding, reaction to anaesthesia, and pain after the operation.  Complications can arise and failed back surgery syndrome (FBSS) does occur although techniques are improving to detect those likely to suffer and reduce their risk accordingly.  Those with disc herniation or bulging, spinal stenosis, scoliosis, and degenerative disc disease are just a few of the patients who may wish to consider back surgery as an alternative option to a lifelong regime of pharmaceuticals with their accompanying side-effects.  Choosing to undergo back surgery is not a simple decision and requires careful consideration, through discussion with appropriate medical professionals, of the likely benefits and possible complications of applicable procedures. Because back surgery is often made out of choice by a patient rather than necessity, the benefits should outweigh the risks and those factors should be analyzed carefully.