If you are a   patient who is terribly suffering from back pain and for whom all other conservative methods of treatments have been found to be absolutely useless, then you are the apt person for back pain specialist. However, most of the back pain patients find relief on its own, in about two to three months time. Low back pain is the most common disease for which family doctors have maximum patients. Anti inflammatory medications, applying heat, gentle massage and physiotherapy have often been found to be very useful in containing back pain. The associated pain is relived completely after completing the spinal surgery and the numbness experienced in arms or legs also vanishes.

Symptoms caused by compressed nerves

If your nerves in the spine are compressed it may result in the following symptoms.

Disk problems:  The discs are the cushions supporting the bones of your spine. Sometimes these spongy cushions get tightly pressed against the nerves in your spine affecting its functioning and causing severe pain.

Bone overgrowth: Bone spurs are caused as a result of osteoarthritis. The excess growth of bones narrows the passage for the spine causing it to touch the spinal cord resulting in severe pain. It will be difficult to pinpoint the location where the pain is felt. In other X-rays you may be able to locate bulging or herniated discs which are not causing any pain at all.

Different types of disc replacement surgery

Depending upon the cause of the back pain, an orthopedic and spine specialist, may suggest one spinal surgery  from the most common surgical procedures which are described below.

1. Diskectomy: In diskectomy, the damaged portion of the bulging disc is removed. The herniated disc is caused as a result of the bulging of the softer material in the center portion of the disc through the cracks developed in the harder outer portion as a result of over use or accidents. This bulging of disc can irritate the nerve passing through this portion of the spine causing severe pain to the patient. The fragmented disc is removed as a first step. The entire disc is taken out and the removed portions are replaced using bone taken from a cadaver. In some cases synthetic bones are also used. 2. Laminectomy : In this spinal surgery, the back portion of the lumbar region vertebra is removed for creating more space in the spinal canal. This relieves the pressure on the spinal cord. An orthopedic and spine specialist will suggest laminectomy only if other therapies are reported futile and if the patient experiences bowel or bladder control and difficulty in standing as well as walking. In some cases the removal of lamina becomes necessary to get access to the disc.
2. Spinal fusion: In this surgery two or more bones in the patients spine are fused together permanently to reduce the pain experienced by the patient and to give him at least limited movement facility.
3. Artificial discs: in some cases, where spinal fusion is impracticable as a result of severe pain, a back pain specialist mclean may opt for prostheses discs. In this case the damaged disc is removed and a new one made of medical grade metal or plastic is fitted in its place. Though this is a very convenient method due to a variety of reasons this method is not feasible in most people.