Spinal stenosis in the cervical spine or neck, if it gets bad enough, will cause patients to experience clumsiness, difficulty walking, difficulty with steps, numbness, tingling, and burning sensations throughout. Generally when it gets to that point, it’s a pretty severe situation and often requires timely surgical intervention.
Month: January 2025
Spinal Stenosis Symptoms
January 29, 2025What is Spinal Stenosis?
January 22, 2025
Spinal stenosis is a condition where the spinal canal is narrow. In medicine, the word stenosis just means narrowing. So if you’re talking to a heart doctor, it’s narrowing of some valve or structure around the heart. If you’re talking to a spine doctor, it’s narrowing of the spinal canal. It can cause pressure on the nerves and other types of dysfunction.
How do You decide what Type of Surgery to Perform?
January 14, 2025
When I consider the types of surgery to perform, I usually go with the most minimally invasive surgery as a first line intervention. A very common example of that would be in the low back. There’s some patients that may ultimately seem like they need a fusion. But there’s a good chance with a minor outpatient procedure you could relieve enough of their symptoms without having to do fairly major surgeries such as putting screws and rods at their back.
When that’s an option I always go with a smaller procedure after a discussion with the patient.
When is it Time to Have Surgery?
January 8, 2025
Patients often ask me when is it time to have surgery, and that really is very patient dependent. And one of the most important things I ask patients are, are they getting better? Are they getting worse? Are they staying the same? Generally, if somebody’s getting worse and they’ve tried everything, all other treatment options, it’s time to think about surgery.
If they’re getting better generally, it’s a good idea to hold off on surgical intervention. Patients that are staying the same and they’ve tried everything and they can’t live their life, that would also be a good time to consider surgical intervention.