Lumbar Back Surgery - What It Involves, The Symptoms That Indicate It, And The Risks Involved
Soft cushions known as intervertebral disks are interposed between every pair of adjacent vertebrae of the vertebral column. A little bit of pressure on the nerves that are attached to the spinal cord can result in severe pain, slight numbness, tingling and even weakness. Lumbar back surgery or lumbar spinal surgery is used to correct problems associated with spinal bones, disks, or nerves at the lower back, which region of the vertebral column is known as lumbar spine.
Lumbar spinal surgery is performed under general anesthesia. During this whole process, the patient is unconscious and feels no pain. An incision is made in the lumbar region of the spine, precisely as near as possible to the spot of the source of pain.The hole in the lumbar vertebra through which the pinched nerve passes, may be made wider to reduce the pressure on that nerve, in this surgery..
The Symptoms That Indicate Lumbar Surgery
The presence of the following specific symptoms can easily help decide that you need lumbar back surgery: * If you feel pain that reaches from the back to the butts and upto the back of the upper thighs, * If the pain badly interferes with your daily life, * If you feel some weakness in the legs or feet. Also if there is numbness in your feet, legs, or toes, * If you feel a loss of bowel and bladder control. The Risks Associated With Lumbar Surgery However,, there are some major risks associated with lumbar surgery: * Risks attributable to anesthesia: Anesthesia can be a cause for a number of risks associated with lumbar surgery. This includes the risk of a reaction caused by medicines used in anesthsia. In certain cases, anesthesia may be a cause of breathing problems in patients. * General risks associated with any surgery: The risks for any surgery taking place in your body include, bleeding at the point of cut and infection due to moisture and improper hygiene. * Risks specifically associated with spinal surgery: The risks for spinal surgery include damage to nerves resulting in paralysis. Clotting of blood in the body, weakness in the muscles of the body, and loss of bowel or bladder control are other specific risks associated with spinal surgery. After surgery a surgeon's job is done. But what are a patient's expectations? It is said that the result of surgery depends on the source of the problem and the extent of injury, but usually, most people are happy and satisfied as their back pain is alleviated. The patient's stay at the hospital in lumbar back surgery varies from person to person. Some people need to stay just for a day while some people need extra time to recover from surgical pain. You will be asked to walk on the first and the second day to prevent the blood from clotting. You may take a time of five weeks to recover completely and might not be allowed to pick up any heavy item for months.
| 
