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Coping with Illness
Treating Worn-Out Spinal Discs
A new procedure relieves pain and restores flexibility in the lower back
Suffering from lower back pain? You may have a worn-out disc. Also called degenerative disc disease, this condition may be caused by an injury, but more often results from the normal wear and tear of aging, according to neurosurgeon Christopher Lycette, M.D., and spinal surgeons Jeff McConnell, M.D., and James Weis, M.D., of Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network.
You have discs between each vertebra (bone) in your spine. Hard on the outside and spongy on the inside, they act like shock absorbers. But over time,
discs lose some of their water content and can no longer properly absorb the strain of day-to-day movement.
“As discs wear out, the space between the vertebrae narrows, increasing stress on the spine and putting pressure on nerves inside it,” Lycette says. “This causes pain in the lower back, sometimes extending down to the thighs, and it often gets worse when sitting. You are also more prone to other back conditions, such as a hern-iated (bulging) disc.”
Pain from degenerative disc may go away on its own even as the disc continues to wear down, McConnell says. If the pain persists, doctors first try conservative treatment, including rest, medication and physical therapy. Steroid injections in the back also may be used to reduce inflammation and pain.
A new surgical optionIf these treatments don’t work, the main surgical option has been spinal fusion. Surgeons remove the damaged disc, replace it with bone graft and stabilize the spine with rods and screws. Now, a new surgical technique allows spine specialists to replace a damaged disc with an artificial one. About the size of a silver dollar, the CharitéTM artificial disc has a plastic core sandwiched between two metal end plates.
“With the artificial disc, we can restore the natural height between the two vertebrae and reduce or eliminate back pain,” McConnell says. “It has several advantages over spinal fusion. Most important is maintaining motion between the vertebrae and restoring flexibility of the spine.” Recovery is faster, too. Patients stay in the hospital just two or three days and resume normal activities in about 12 weeks—about half the time required after fusion.
Currently, McConnell says, the surgery is approved for people with only a single diseased disc located in the lower back. Those with severe arthritis, slipped vertebrae or osteoporosis are not candidates. In the coming months, he says, more artificial discs will be available. They’ll be approved for the replacement of two discs, not just one, which will make more people eligible.
Want to Know More about maintaining good posture to keep your back healthy? Call 610-402-CARE.
This page last updated 3/31/08 01:56 PM
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November December 2008
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A flexible replacement
