If you’ve had back problems for a while, chances are you’ve tried a bunch of treatments to ease your discomfort. You’re on pain medication. You receive spine injections. You’ve changed your diet or had massage therapy. When conservative methods don’t eliminate your pain, you need something that works. End the cycle of unsuccessful back pain treatments with minimally invasive spine surgery. In the hands of an expert spine surgeon like Dr. Branko Skovrlj at NU-Spine in Edison, NJ, you can find relief. It’s quicker, safer and causes less bruising and pain than traditional surgeries. With most procedures, you can even get in and out in one day. Call NU-Spine today to set up a consultation.

What Is Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery?

Minimally invasive spine surgery focuses on getting the same or better results as traditional spine surgery, but with less damage and a shorter recovery period. In minimally invasive procedures, the incision typically is two centimeters long or less.

A small tube, which holds a microscope, camera and precision tools, is pushed in through the incision to get to the target area. It eliminates the need to cut through muscle and tissue to get to the spot that needs correction. The benefits of minimally invasive spine surgery are enormous and include:

• Quicker results
• Less blood loss
• Less muscle and nerve damage
• Less bruising
• Faster recovery time
• Lower risks

In most cases, you’re able to go home the same day. Dr. Branko Skovrlj is the best spine surgeon in the Northeast. As the founder of NU-Spine: The Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery Institute in Edison, New Jersey, Dr. Skovrlj has spent his career specializing in minimally invasive procedures so that you can have your spine repaired with less hassle and pain.

How Do I Know If I Need Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery?

Set up a consultation with Dr. Skovrlj. In addition to carefully listening to your list of symptoms and doing a thorough physical exam, Dr. Skovrlj uses imaging and other tests to determine the safest and quickest way to get you full relief. Your New Jersey neurosurgeon treats a wide range of conditions with minimally invasive surgical techniques. Symptoms that respond well to minimally invasive surgery include:

• Back pain
• Neck pain
• Lower back pain
• Trouble walking
• Sciatica or shooting pain down one leg
• Tingling in your legs or arms
• Weak muscles in your legs or arms
• Stiffness
• Muscle spasms
• A foot that keeps falling asleep
• Trouble turning your midsection
• Difficulty controlling bowels or bladder

Dr. Skovrlj relies on state-of-the-art techniques and tools to perform minimally invasive surgery on a wide range of common and complicated conditions, including:

• Spinal deformities
• Scoliosis
• Kyphosis in your middle back, lower back or upper back and neck
• Nerve-compressing problems in your lower back, such as stenosis, a pinched nerve, a herniated disc or compression injury
• Diseases, such as lumbar degenerative joint disease and cervical degenerative joint disease
• Spinal sprains and strains
• Spondylosis
• Stress fractures
• Sacroiliac joint disease
• Flat back syndrome

What Kinds of Minimally Invasive Spine Surgeries Are There?

Most spinal surgeries can be done in a minimally invasive way to reduce risks and the amount of time needed to fully recover. Some procedures require general anesthesia, while others may be performed in the office with local numbing agents. Your New Jersey spine surgeon is well-versed in a wide range of minimally invasive surgeries including:

• Microdiscectomy. This is a procedure used to remove some or all of a disc or discs that sit between your vertebrae. Damaged discs can be extremely painful and lead to complications such as throbbing neck pain from a cervical slipped disc, inflammation or injury A microdiscectomy is commonly performed on all areas of the spine: cervical, thoracic and lumbar.
• Minimally invasive laminectomy. This procedure is designed to seamlessly remove part of the back of one or more vertebrae to create more space for your nerves and spinal cord. Areas damaged by a compressed nerve benefit from this procedure, which is often used to treat conditions like cervical stenosis and thoracic radiculopathy and many other conditions.
• TLIF. Transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion is a minimally invasive procedure used to fuse different parts of the spine with a special graft. It’s commonly used to treat spondylolisthesis, cervical degenerative disc disease and lumbar degenerative disc disease and is much less invasive than more extensive spinal fusions.
• Endoscopic posterior cervical foraminotomy. This is a procedure primarily used to treat conditions caused by compressed nerves such cervical radiculopathy, thoracic radiculopathy or lumbar radiculopathy.
• Lumbar decompression. This refers to a group of procedures used to decompress lumbar nerves in lumbar stenosis.

These minimally invasive spine surgeries have a high rate of success in terms of pain relief and getting you back to your usual active self. While your neurosurgeon can also perform other types of spinal surgery, he specializes in minimally invasive procedures, which often produce the most effective results.

Whether you’re tired of non-surgical procedures and recommendations that give you minimal results, you need a revision surgery to repair damage done by another physician or you just want to stop the pain, contact Dr. Skovrlj at NU-Spine in Edison, New Jersey. Get pain relief for the long term.

References:
1. U.S. National Library of Medicine. Ralf Wagner, Albert E. Telfeian, Menno Iprenburg, Guntram Krzok (2017) Minimally invasive fully endoscopic two-level posterior cervical foraminotomy: technical note.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5506297/
2. American Association of Neurological Surgeons. Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery.
https://www.aans.org/en/Patients/Neurosurgical-Conditions-and-Treatments/Minimally-Invasive-Spine-Surgery
3. American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. Daniel K. Park MD, Louis G. Jenis MD, Stuart J. Fischer MD (2018) Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery.
https://orthoinfo.aaos.org/en/treatment/minimally-invasive-spine-surgery/
4. Mayo Clinic. Minimally invasive spine surgery: Hit or miss?
https://www.mayoclinic.org/medical-professionals/orthopedic-surgery/news/minimally-invasive-spine-surgery-hit-or-miss/mac-20430468
5. U.S. National Library of Medicine. Avani S. Vaishnav, Yahya A. Othman, Sohrab S. Virk, Catherine Himo Gang, Sheeraz A. Qureshi (2019) Current state of minimally invasive spine surgery.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6626758/