What Health Problems Can Spinal Fusion Treat?
So many things can go wrong with your spine and cause excruciating pain and other symptoms. Learn about game-changing spinal fusion surgery and what uncomfortable conditions it can treat here.
How to Prevent New Osteoporotic Fractures After Spine Surgery
May is National Osteoporosis Awareness and Prevention Month. If you’re one of the 10 million Americans who live with osteoporosis, you know that fractures are some of the most feared complications related to this condition.
Though compression fractures are often accident-related, osteoporosis is their primary cause — the result of a vertebra collapsing due to the spine’s inability to support a person’s weight any longer.
If you’ve had surgery to repair a spinal compression fracture, you’ve got good reason to be concerned about future fractures.
Dr. Benjamin Cohen is both highly experienced in performing surgery to address spinal compression fractures and an exceptional educator, committed to teaching you about lowering your risk for fracture tomorrow and leading an active life after surgery.
Fractures are a major concern for those with osteoporosis
It may surprise you to learn that about 700,000 of the 1.5 million spinal compression fractures that strike people each year stem from osteoporosis, and are nearly twice as common as hip or wrist fractures.
Sometimes, a spinal compression fracture can go undetected until we take images, but when symptoms do occur, the pain is often sharp and debilitating, limiting your mobility and lowering your quality of life.
If you’ve suffered a fracture and you have osteoporosis, the damage can also cause pain when you walk, but it may abate when you rest. You might also develop stooped posture, or a back hump (kyphosis). And have you heard about osteoporosis-related shrinking? It’s a real thing, and you can lose inches in height.
Surgical solutions for spinal compression fractures
Fortunately, Dr. Cohen offers surgical procedures that can relieve these painful and disabling symptoms by realigning, strengthening, and stabilizing the spine.
Kyphoplasty or vertebroplasty are both procedures during which Dr. Cohen inserts a hollow needle into your affected vertebra, then fills it with fast-drying bone cement. This solidifies your spine and makes your vertebrae stronger.
What makes kyphoplasty different is that, in addition to and after using the cement, Dr. Cohen expands the bone by using a balloon and restores the height of the bone.
Dr. Cohen performs another innovative procedure, lumbar vertebral body replacement. All of your vertebrae have vertebral bodies, the thick, oval-shaped parts of each bone. When this part of your vertebra is fractured, major spinal instability follows, as well as pinched spinal nerves.
For this problem, Dr. Cohen might remove the fractured part of the vertebra and, in its place, put a small metal cage filled with growth-stimulating bone graft materials. Over time, the vertebral body heals, the bone grows outside the cage, and fuses with the bone.
If you have another type of spinal surgery, such as spinal stenosis surgery or spinal fusion, you may also be worried about a spinal compression fracture, even if your surgery had to do with having another condition other than osteoporosis.
Tips for preventing post-surgical osteoporotic fractures
If you’ve gone through the process of having one of these advanced minimally invasive surgeries and are making a good recovery, you want to do all you can to ensure that you don’t suffer another fracture.
Fortunately, there are steps you can take to ward off another fracture:
- Make sure you get adequate vitamin D and calcium through diet and supplements
- Become hyper-aware of fall risks and take steps to make your home safer
- Avoid tobacco at all costs because it weakens your bones
- Listen to your doctor’s advice about slowing bone loss (medication, diet, exercise)
- Get your osteoporosis monitored closely and managed well
- Don’t ignore fracture symptoms; seek treatment promptly if you notice any
It’s never too early to raise your awareness about osteoporosis risk. We’re talking to you, women over 50 who are white or Asian and have small frames. You’re also at higher risk if you went through menopause before age 50.
Dr. Cohen can create the right treatment plan for you if you’re diagnosed with a spinal compression fracture, no matter the reason. However, if yours is osteoporosis-related, he is invested in providing expert guidance on monitoring and management, customized treatment, and prevention.
Call our Garden City office to schedule an appointment with Dr. Cohen at 516-246-5008, or contact us through our website.
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