Using Laser Surgery for Back Pain Relief
Laser spine surgery has made life better for literally thousands of people who thought they would suffer with back pain for the rest of their lives. It’s been nothing short of a miracle.
The problem? You may think you’re getting laser spine surgery when you’re actually not.
What is Laser Spine Surgery?
Laser spine surgery is a highly successful procedure with no incision, scarring, hospital stays or cutting whatsoever. It works by decreasing the size of bulging disks with highly precise laser energy. Thousands of people are now living pain and drug free from laser spine surgery.
Some doctors use the word “laser spine surgery” as a marketing tool and then use traditional surgical techniques. These false marketing practices create a lot of disinformation for patients. What you want to look for is a doctor who performs “percutaneous laser disc decompression surgery” or PLDD surgery. This technique uses a thin needle insertion with a small laser fed through the needle to decompress a bulging disk.
Laser Spine Surgery for Herniated Discs
Laser spinal surgery treats neck pain and back pain effectively when caused by a herniated disc. It’s specially designed to give you the most relief, with the least invasiveness out of all the types of spinal surgery. There are a few other ways to treat herniated discs, including discectomy, laminectomy, and spinal fusions. However, these surgeries can have lengthy recovery times, and may require a hospital stay before going home. In many cases you may not be eligible for surgery based on a number of health factors.
Spinal Fusion Myths
Getting spinal fusion is a major decision in anyone’s life, and the thought of going through months of rehabilitation with limited mobility is daunting. There are a few myths about spinal surgeries floating around though, and one is that all spine surgeries are major surgeries. As we’ve mentioned, there are a few minimally invasive alternatives to spinal fusion such as laser spine surgery, or an endoscopic discectomy. Another myth is that spinal fusions are only for severe back injuries, which isn’t the case. Degenerative disc disease happens slowly over a long period of time, and is one of the prominent reasons people seek surgical intervention. Another myth is that recovery from spine surgery always takes a very long time. In the case of spinal fusion, the recovery period will be at least a few months or all the way up to a year to fully heal. Endoscopic discectomy or foraminotomy recovery periods may be only a few weeks, and with laser spine surgery you can go home the same day as your surgery.
Does Laser Spine Surgery Work?
The great thing about laser spine surgery is it has a high success rate when it comes to relieving back pain. No surgery can guarantee a 100% success rate, particularly when it comes to complex spinal procedures. Spinal fusion’s success rate is between 50% and 70% in fully resolving pain in your spine, and laser spine surgery has a similar success rate. The difference is spinal fusion is much more invasive and has a significantly longer recovery period.
Benefits of Laser Spine Surgery
The benefits of a real laser spine surgery procedure are numerous. They include no hospital stay, so it’s a truly outpatient surgery, as well as a 50-70% rate of success in relieving lower back pain or neck pain. The fact that it’s non-invasive is appealing to a lot of people, because the lack of cutting means there are much fewer risks and complications compared to traditional surgery. The procedure is quick as well, since the decompression of a spinal disc with a laser is fast.
Laser Spine Surgery Atlanta
We have three locations in the Atlanta area if you have back pain and need help. Our surgery centers have in-house open MRI machines for accurate diagnosis of a herniated disc, degenerating disc disease and other spinal conditions. We’ve been serving Georgia for over 20 years, helping thousands of people recover from neck and back pain.