Will Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery Alleviate Your Back Pain?

No one wants to undergo spine surgery, but if you have the opportunity to find long-term relief for chronic and treatment-resistant pain, it can be the most effective solution. This is even more true now that innovative surgical techniques have created minimally invasive approaches that can get you back on your feet again faster and with fewer risks.

Here at Spine Group Beverly Hills, Dr. John Regan — one of the primary physicians at the United States’ first spine specialty clinic — helps men and women in Southern California find relief from neck and back pain. While our team always starts with conservative treatments whenever possible, minimally invasive spine surgery could be the best option to get you back to an active lifestyle, pain-free.

How minimally invasive surgery works

Minimally invasive. It’s amazing how two simple words describe how many surgeons have completely revolutionized the approach to a medical problem. In the past, surgeons needed to open your body with an incision large enough for them to both lay eyes on the problem and get inside to fix it.

However, with a minimally invasive approach, Dr. Regan only needs to make a few very tiny incisions. He uses these small openings to insert a microscope or miniature camera and specialized instruments into your body.

Once in place, the camera gives Dr. Regan a 3D view of your surgical site — which he sees through a microscope or on a monitor — in real-time. Then the small, specialized instruments inserted through these small incisions do the work.

Using a minimally invasive approach to spine surgery offers several benefits, including:

• Better precision
• Less blood loss
• Reduced risk of infection
• Faster recovery time
• Less postoperative pain
• Minimal collateral damage

Minimally invasive spine surgeries also come with less scarring.

When to consider minimally invasive spine surgery

You can have back pain for several reasons. But because your spine provides the foundational structure for your entire body, pain is usually only part of the problem. It’s also common to end up severely limited in your ability to move and function, which can prevent you from enjoying an active life.

We take a lot of factors into consideration when exploring whether minimally invasive spine surgery is right for you. Each of our patients is different, and everyone has different goals, so it’s crucial for us to come up with the best plan for your situation.

Several common spinal issues can benefit from minimally invasive surgery, such as:

• Herniated discs
• Lumbar radiculopathy (sciatica)
• Vertebrae fractures
• Degenerative disc disease
• Spinal stenosis
• Spondylosis
• Spondylolisthesis
• Scoliosis
• Spinal cord compression
• Myelopathy
• Ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament (OPLL)
• Cervical radiculopathy

We can also treat many of these spine conditions nonsurgically. But if your condition doesn’t improve with more conservative approaches, we may recommend a surgical solution to bring you the relief you need.

To learn more about minimally invasive spine surgery, please contact one of our convenient locations in Beverly Hills or Santa Monica, California, to set up an appointment today. Call or use our online booking tool.