This is a question that many are likely to ask if they’re considering it. Here you’ll learn more about whether or not laser spine surgery actually works and how it works.
Spine Deformity Surgery is normally done to relieve pain and other symptoms by decreasing pressure on compressed nerves or stabilizing the spine. In cases involving herniated or ruptured discs, a discectomy may be accomplished to remove the damaged portion of a spinal disc, or a laminectomy can be done to remove bone spurs or other growths.
In cases where the spine isn’t stable, patients can undergo a spinal fusion to secure together two or more of the vertebral bones to fuse them together.
All of these surgeries are often performed with minimally invasive techniques to help minimize damage to surrounding tissue and allow for less recovery time and blood loss. Laser spine surgery is often promoted as being virtually risk-free and noninvasive. However, they may require incisions and damage from the laser could result in serious complications.
Laser spine surgery hasn’t been studied in a controlled clinical trial to determine how effective it is.
While many marketing efforts promoting laser spine surgery tout it as a painless and noninvasive procedure, it does actually involve surgery, requiring bone and ligament to then be removed to free the nerve from compression, through the use of small surgical instruments. The laser actually plays less of a role than the surgery aspect.
Laser spine surgery can work, but you need to make sure you receive the proper diagnosis from medical professionals prior to undergoing the procedure. Most cases of neck and back pain are muscle-rated and don’t require or benefit from any surgery.
Unless you’re experiencing severe pain or muscle weakness that’s making it difficult to walk or perform daily tasks, surgery isn’t typically the first option. In most cases, physical therapy and exercise, along with anti-inflammatory medication and lifestyle changes, are often effective means of eliminating neck and back pain.
If conservative treatments don’t succeed in reducing this pain, you may require surgery, but this depends on the diagnosis. For instance, if you have a herniated disk with extreme pain that isn’t treatable with other options, you may need a discectomy.
Traditional spine surgery has been sufficiently tested in clinical trials, and the majority of patients who undergo discectomies over laser spine surgery have experienced relief from pain and other types of symptoms
Laminectomy is also effective for elderly patients who have been diagnosed with spinal stenosis. Only a few neurosurgeons recommend laser spine surgery as an alternative to these traditional surgeries, as there is very little proof that laser spine surgery is worthwhile compared to discectomies and laminectomies, among other conventional procedures.
While laser spine surgery may work in some cases, you’re better off looking for other more traditional methods to treat severe pain before turning to that insufficiently tested procedure.
