Lumbar decompression surgery is a procedure that is done to reduce pain that results from pinched nerves. The procedure involves removing a small part of the bone or disc material that presses the nerve root so as to free the nerve root and give it more space thus providing a fast healing environment.
There are actually two kinds of back surgery decompression procedures that is the microdiscectomy or micro decompression and the lumbar laminectomy or known as the open decompression.
Different medical conditions do cause neural impingement thus needs surgery. Some of these medical conditions include herniated disc, degenerative spondylolisthesis, and spinal stenosis or in rare cases a spinal tumor.
How is decompression surgery done? Modern back surgery can now be done with minimal post operative discomfort and so far it has high success of reducing pain unlike the traditional back surgery. Most often a combination of spine fusion surgery works well with the decompression procedure especially if it is done to relieve an individual from foraminal stenosis.
Spinal fusion is required to provide stability of the spine since Foraminal Stenosis is hard to decompress by just removing the bone. When the bone is removed in the foramen it also is necessary that the facet joint is removed and when this joint is removed then it can result to spine instability thus spinal fusion is necessary to provide stability.
The foramen can be open through the anterior or posterior that is through the back of the spine. When the foramen is open then the spine fusion procedure follows. According to Spine-Health, an alternative for spine fusion is available and that is the Interspinous Process Spacers. This is implanted so as to open the foramen and central canal and this answers the problem with spinal stenosis pain as well as limitation of movement.