Should I stop taking medications before spinal surgery?
You have a pinched nerve, slipped disc, a spinal cord injury, or other back problem that has not responded to conservative treatments, and you have reached the decision to have spinal surgery. You and...
View ArticlePreparing for Spinal Surgery
Whether for a slipped disc caused by the normal aging process, or to treat a traumatic spinal cord injury, spinal surgery is never undertaken lightly. When selected as the preferred treatment option,...
View ArticleWhat is Neural Claudication?
Recently we addressed the topic of claudication, pain typically felt in the legs as a result of vascular, or blood vessel problems, or back problems such as spinal stenosis that can result in pinched...
View ArticleHaving a Pinched Nerve in Your Lower Back
A pinched nerve can cause pain and restrict one’s mobility. The condition occurs when surrounding bone, muscle, cartilage or other tissue impinges on a nerve. Though pinched nerves can occur almost...
View ArticleWhat is Radiculopathy?
Radiculopathy is a term that refers to chronic injuries that result from the bones of the spinal column (vertebrae), or the cushioning discs between them, impinging on the root of a nerve in the spinal...
View ArticleWhat is Lumbar Radiculopathy?
If the vertebrae (the bones of the spine), or the cushioning discs between them impinge on the root of a nerve in the spinal column, chronic injuries to the nerve may result. Radiculopathy is the...
View ArticleWhat is Lumbar Spinal Stenosis?
Spinal stenosis – one of the most common spinal conditions – is an abnormal narrowing of the spinal canal. (“Stenosis” refers to a narrowing, or constriction.) As the spinal canal progressively narrows...
View ArticleWhat is a Lumbar Laminectomy?
Medical terminology doesn’t go out of its way to be complicated or hard to understand. It’s simply that the language has to be very precise, and that much of it comes from Latin. Hence, it can be...
View ArticleBack Pain and Steroid Injections
Epidural injections of steroids have often been the treatment of choice for patients with a pinched nerve in the back whose symptoms did not respond to simple exercise, physical therapy, or other more...
View ArticleHow to Prepare for Spinal Stenosis Surgery, Part III
Spinal stenosis, an unnatural narrowing (or stenosis) of the spinal canal, is an all too common cause of back pain and restricted mobility, which results from pressure the narrowing column places on...
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